Law firm with connections to premier given share of smoking lawsuit, Redford’s ex-husband is a long-time Tory party worker by Charles Rusnell, May 31, 2012, CBC News
Some of the legal work for a $10-billion, smoking lawsuit to be filed by the Alberta government has been given to a Progressive Conservative-connected Calgary law firm in which a partner is the ex-husband of Premier Alison Redford, CBC has learned. The Alberta portion of the legal work has been given to Jensen, Shawa, Solomon, Duguid, Hawkes, a firm that includes partner Robert Hawkes, who is Redford’s former husband and was the leader of her transition team when she was first elected leader of the Progressive Conservative party. ‘The millions of dollars it will generate, it appears…they’re giving to one of their buddies’—Shayne Saskiw, Wildrose
Hawkes is a long-time Conservative supporter and former party worker who is also active in provincial politics. “Something smells,” Wildrose justice critic Shayne Saskiw said Thursday. “The millions of dollars it will generate, it appears, on the face of it, they’re giving to one of their buddies.”
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The lawsuit represents an attempt by the government to recover billions of dollars of health-care costs accrued over the past several decades. [Emphasis added]