Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks in Edmonton on May 15.JASON FRANSON/The Canadian Press
It’s clear that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith feels the wind is at her back. This is on display in a series of policy choices this spring, including her government’s assertion of power over municipalities through its reviled Bill 20.
But it also shows in her United Conservative Party’s push to appoint a person who once sought the UCP nomination to the role of provincial ethics commissioner.
This is nothing against Shawn McLeod himself. As UCP members point out, he’s a lawyer, has high-level experience in both the public and private sectors, and is, significantly, the first First Nations person to be named to the job.
But the fact is Mr. McLeod – the person set to become Alberta’s new ethics commissioner this month for a term of five years – sought the UCP nomination in Edmonton-Riverview, just five years ago.
The individual might be unimpeachable. The appointment, however, is not.
Alberta’s ethics commissioner is an independent officer of the legislature, guiding 2,200 political staff, officials and MLAs through the ins and outs of the Conflicts of Interest Act. This commissioner offers counsel on questions about issues such as gifts, investments and postpolitics employment, and also investigates complaints (more on that later).
An all-party legislature search committee recommended Mr. McLeod’s appointment. The four Alberta NDP MLAs on the committee dissented, however, writing in a minority report that “the UCP members of the committee voted as a block to support an individual for appointment as the next Ethics Commissioner who has well‐established ties to the UCP ... The risk for perceived bias is obvious.”
To use an example from another important appointment at a different level of government, think back to the 2023 casting of David Johnston as special rapporteur into election interference. The Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois immediately questioned his impartiality owing to his long friendship with the Trudeau family and his role with the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. This was crucial given that part of Mr. Johnston’s task was examining whether the Prime Minister’s Office took intelligence warnings about foreign interference, including those involving other parties, seriously enough.
That question of impartiality allowed ample room for criticism when Mr. Johnston advised against a public inquiry and concluded there was no evidence the government ignored CSIS reports on Chinese election interference. Eventually, it came out that his lead counsel in the probe had donated to the Liberal Party. Mr. Johnston eventually resigned, citing the “highly partisan atmosphere.” But even NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said: “The problem from the start was that Mr. Johnston answered to the Prime Minister.”
All of this doesn’t negate that Mr. Johnston is an honourable man, and he was given less time and fewer resources than has been allotted to the inquiry now being overseen by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue. He still wasn’t the right person for the job, because respect for his conclusions demanded distance from the people he was examining.
The same is true for a provincial ethics commissioner and Ms. Smith should understand the need for distance. In her past political life, when she was the leader of the upstart Wildrose Party more than a decade ago, she built her career calling out Progressive Conservative Party cronyism.
That history was laid out by Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley in the legislature last week, who then took to describing the appointment of Mr. McLeod by former Wildrosers who cut their teeth fighting PC patronage posts as “next-level hypocrisy.”
Ms. Notley also noted Mr. McLeod has made multiple political donations to the UCP. Her NDP colleague, MLA Irfan Sabir, said that up until February, Mr. McLeod held a powerful advisory position close to the Premier’s office, in executive council.
The Premier’s bar for ethics should be particularly high, since she was censured herself by the current (and outgoing) ethics commissioner, Marguerite Trussler. Following an investigation last year, Ms. Trussler concluded the Premier tried to influence Alberta’s Minister of Justice to the benefit of a street preacher charged for his role at the 2022 border blockade at Coutts, Alta. The commissioner wrote: “It is a threat to democracy to interfere with the administration of justice.”
Ms. Trussler’s contract was not renewed. She will be replaced by Mr. McLeod.
In the end, the UCP will ignore the Alberta NDP and media on this. But it will still matter, as perception matters. If the public feels the system is rigged, they will continue to lose faith in the system. The truth is, UCP MLAs never would have voted for a candidate that had sought the NDP nomination, even if it was 20 years ago.
The UCP will argue that they would have had difficulty finding an ethics commissioner with no political ties. But surely, there was someone further removed from partisanship and power than this.