The bizarre letter sent to St. Albert city councillor Roger Lemieux a year and a half ago had nothing to do with his fellow councillors Cam MacKay and Malcolm Parker, the two men stated.
The letter, printed verbatim in the Oct. 9 edition of the St. Albert Gazette, claimed to be from the St. Albert Taxpayers Association and stated several incumbent councillors, including Lemieux, would be targets in any upcoming election, and that SATA would take control of city council with the help of MacKay and Parker.
MacKay stated at the Gazette office Oct. 9 that he didn’t write the letter and the first he heard of it was when Lemieux brought it to council in the spring of 2012.
In a written statement sent to the Gazette, MacKay said he strongly questioned the timing of the letter’s release, claiming it’s a political ploy by Mayor Nolan Crouse.
“What I found particularly interesting is that the letter first appeared on Mayor Nolan Crouse’s blog on September 25, 2013. Then, Councillor Roger Lemieux released the letter to the Gazette 15 days later – a letter that he apparently received at his residence in March 2012, nearly two years ago,” stated Mackay.
“Interestingly enough, every single piece of mail that is received at city hall is time/date stamped to record exactly when it is received. In the case of the anonymous letter, it was not mailed to city hall – but rather to Councillor Lemieux’s residence. Even more curious is that when one examines the .pdf file of the letter on the Mayor’s original blog post, it contains a hand-written annotation at the bottom of the letter noting that the letter was received on March 12.”
Coun. Parker also contacted the Gazette, wanting to comment on the letter that named him. “You look at that stuff and say, okay, it’s crap,” said Parker Friday.
“I’m in no way associated with either one of those groups,” he said, referring to SATA and the St. Albert Think Tank, a group running advertisements attacking certain incumbent council members for their track records on fiscal issues.
Parker said he’s running an independent campaign and said he guesses he was named in the letter because he’s seen as fiscally responsible and openly questions city budget decisions. “So, I have that reputation,” said Parker.
The letter also stated, “And parker actually follows Mackay so that means we have 2 now.”
Asked if he ever takes orders from other councillors, Parker strongly denied that. “That’s not what I do,” he said. “I’m an independent thinker.
“I’m not like that. I make my own, independent decisions.”
Mayor Crouse was contacted Thursday by the Gazette about his writing on the letter. He sent a written response:
“That is my writing. My writing is on the copy that Roger had given me and I had it scanned because at some time I scribbled a date on it; likely at the time. I date all things when I get them and it would have been no different with this. I just looked at the date that I scanned it and it was September 23, 2013.
“Roger told me today that he still has the original. If I recall, Roger gave copies to council members and I likely would have dated it and scribbled that on it at the time.”
