The Government of Alberta will only appoint elected or senior officials to agencies when their input is important for the agency to achieve its mandate. In such circumstances, elected officials will be compensated, at most, at the same rate as other directors.

Discussion

In some instances, government representatives bring skills, knowledge and experience that are important for an agency to meet its mandate. The following principles will be used to determine if government representation is important for an agency to achieve its mandate:

• Current legislation for specific agencies requires elected and/or senior official representation in order to have a fully constituted board. The continued need for the presence of government representatives will be reviewed as part of the regular evaluation process of an agency.
• Elected and/or senior officials have unique subject matter knowledge of government direction that is greatly beneficial to an agency, and in particular to advisory, industry liaison or boards focused on economic development.
• New agencies can benefit from guidance and understanding of government direction and processes through the membership of an elected or senior official. This membership should be reviewed during the regular agency review process.

Where government representative participation is not central to meeting the agency mandate, other channels of communication and oversight will be essential. This will help ensure clear roles and responsibilities, and avoid potential perceived conflicts. For affected agencies, an implementation plan will be developed to ensure a smooth transition.