Like many Albertans, I was very alarmed to hear that the RCMP’s Serious Crimes Branch is investigating key figures in Jason Kenney’s UCP regarding allegations of illegal financial contributions and potential fraud.
An investigator in the Election Commissioner’s office, Steve Kaye – himself a former police officer – confirmed via an email obtained by CBC News that the potential violations are now being investigated by the K Division of the RCMP.
Two former would-be UCP candidates, Prab Gill and Happy Mann, have also confirmed that they are co-operating with the RCMP, and thousands of dollars in fines have already been issued to individuals in Kenney’s orbit.
The allegations themselves are shocking, and sound like something out of an episode of House of Cards: a massive electronic vote-rigging scheme of ‘Kenney Kiosks’ in empty warehouses to hijack members’ PINs; Kenney gifting ‘stalking horse’ candidate Jeff Callaway a bottle of ‘Dark Horse’ Alberta rye; cease and desist letters of intimidation fired off at Mr. Gill by Kenney’s lawyers; and now Maclean’s magazine has verified $60,000 deposited from a random corporate entity into a campaign manager’s account to fund Mr. Callaway’s fake leadership bid. Why, on Aug. 13, 2017, just three days after Callaway announced his leadership bid, was the Callaway campaign emailing the Kenney campaign with a timeline for when “Jeff drops” out?
There is a rot in the UCP, dangerously close to Mr. Kenney himself, and the main question now for the RCMP and the Election Commissioner is how deep that rot runs.
In light of this, it’s important that St. Albert’s UCP candidates come clear on this matter.
I’m confident that most candidates seeking election are doing so out of a genuine desire to serve the community the way they see fit, including Dale Nally and Jeff Wedman. But if the investigation continues to circle in on Kenney and his leadership, how can these candidates willingly stand by Kenney in good faith? Can we take for granted that their local nominations were wholly legitimate, or has this same rot trickled down to St. Albert?
And given Mr. Wedman’s career as a member of the Edmonton Police Service, his now running for a leader facing investigation by the RCMP’s Serious Crimes Branch is surprising at best, and jarringly hypocritical at worst.
Albertans need to ask themselves: do we want to return to a politics of shady, unethical backroom deals between a conservative government and its well-connected donors? A politics where we deeply cut spending on health care and education in order to pay for a massive corporate tax cut promoted by Kenney’s millionaire friends? We voted that sense of arrogance and entitlement out in 2015.
When Albertans go to the polls on April 16, the contrast between the unethical, dishonest leadership of Jason Kenney and the principled, pragmatic leadership of Rachel Notley could not be more clear.
David St. Arnaud, St. Albert
