Western Canada: Alberta Premier under fire amid allegations of interference in pandemic prosecutions

Good morning. It’s James Keller in Calgary.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith won the leadership of the United Conservative Party on a platform that included a promise to intervene in court cases related to the COVID-19 pandemic. She pledged to look at the possibility of offering some sort of amnesty in cases already under way.

Ms. Smith’s leadership campaign was driven largely by inflaming grievances related to the pandemic and public health restrictions. She railed against vaccine mandates, mask requirements and lockdowns. On her first day in office, she described the unvaccinated as the “most discriminated-against” group she had seen in her lifetime.

Since she became Premier in October, she has repeatedly said she has raised the issue of cases related to pandemic-era restrictions with prosecutors. For example, just before Christmas, she told Rebel News that she was meeting with prosecutors and urging them to consider her belief that the public no longer supports the idea of pursuing such cases. She said she had also asked prosecutors to take into consideration that the cases are failing in court, after several instances in which charges were stayed or withdrawn.

“I’ve put it to the prosecutors, and I have asked them to do a review of the [COVID-19] cases with those two things in mind and I’m hopeful that we’ll see a true turning of the page,” she told Rebel News.

Ms. Smith has faced intense criticism in recent weeks after repeating similar claims. Her office and the province’s Justice Minister attempted to quell the controversy by insisting that she has never discussed cases with prosecutors.

The government says that when Ms. Smith said she met with “prosecutors,” what she really meant was that she was meeting with her Justice Minister, Tyler Shandro, and his deputy attorney general.

The Premier has since said she used “imprecise language” and that “everyone” knows it would be inappropriate for her to discuss a case with a Crown prosecutor.

It was against that backdrop that the Premier faced allegations this week, contained in a CBC story, that a staffer in her office sent e-mails to the province’s prosecution service to raise concerns about prosecutions related to the border blockade a year ago in Coutts, Alta.

The blockade was in response to pandemic health restrictions, and it resulted in charges against more than a dozen people, including several accused of plotting to kill police officers.

The CBC story is based on unnamed sources. It doesn’t say who sent the e-mails or who received them. The news agency says its reporters haven’t seen the e-mails.

Ms. Smith’s office responded with a statement that said the Premier hasn’t contacted prosecutors and isn’t aware of any of her staff having done so. The statement said “appropriate action” would be taken if a staff member was in touch with a prosecutor, but Ms. Smith’s office wouldn’t say if it is conducting a formal investigation.

The NDP is calling for just such an investigation. Alberta New Democratic MLA Rakhi Pancholi, herself a lawyer, said allowing the “chaos” to continue will damage the rule of law in the province and hurt Alberta’s reputation.

The Globe’s Kelly Cryderman says that, whatever the facts turn out to be, the allegations demand accountability – and answers – from the Premier’s office.

“She has derived much of her political support from being a staunch advocate for those opposing COVID-19 health restrictions,” Kelly writes.

“But the cornerstone of our justice system is that politicians can’t use it to go after their enemies, or protect their friends. The Premier needs an investigation, or to clarify exactly what did and did not happen, and quick.”

This is the weekly Western Canada newsletter written by B.C. Editor Wendy Cox and Alberta Bureau Chief James Keller. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.