Alberta government dissolves Agriculture Financial Service Corporation board

Jun 15, 2016

Members were abusing expense privileges

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

Alberta’s provincial government removed the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) board of directors and suspended three other senior executives. The move came after an anonymous tip in November led to an investigation which showed the abuse of expense privileges and the acceptance of gifts, according to CBC.

AFSC

CBC identified the three other senior executives as: president and managing director Brad Klak, chief operating officer Merle Jacobson, and vice president of innovation and product development Wayne McDonald.

According to an audit by Alberta’s chief internal auditor, there were many expense claims they deemed unnecessary to performing work duties, including:

$19,144 paid to a consultant for a 25 per cent share of Edmonton Oilers luxury box tickets for 10 games in 2011. A receipt for the $664.54 AFSC paid for food was not provided and an attendance list wasn’t available.
$5,108 for a dinner in Tokyo in 2011, hosting the Alberta Government representative in Japan.
$880 for Red Deer Rebels hockey tickets in 2011.
$1,071 in hosting at Edmonton Country Club in 2012.

“The auditor’s report is a difficult and unsettling read. I am troubled by these findings,” Alberta Minister of Agriculture Oneil Carlier said at a press conference. He added the findings reveal a culture of entitlement that won’t be tolerated.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.