The ethics commissioner has found that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith contravened a section of the Conflicts of Interest Act in her conversation with Minister of Justice Tyler Shandro, in relation to criminal charges faced by Calgary street pastor Artur Pawlowski following a speech he gave at the Coutts border protest in 2022.
The report comes with less than 12 days remaining until Albertans go to the polls on May 29, and on the same day Smith is scheduled to take part in a debate with NDP Leader Rachel Notley, who is also vying for the seat of premier.
Trussler stated that it was her opinion that Smith “inappropriately” talked to Justice Minister Tyler Shandro about criminal charges laid against Pawlowski, which the commissioner said was an “improper attempt to influence the independence of the legal system.”
She said that the premier speaking to the justice minister about a specific ongoing criminal case in the way Smith did was “unacceptable” and was in contravention of the act.
CBC Allegations
The commissioner’s report details a January CBC story which it said “rel[ied] on an unnamed source that a political staff member in the Premier’s office had directly contacted prosecutors in the Criminal Prosecution Service about Covid-related prosecutions.”Trussler noted that Smith received questions during her leadership campaign about amnesty for COVID-related Public Health charges. She said that the premier asked for an update on two high-profile cases before the courts, during briefings on forthcoming legislation from the Justice Department.
Shandro received a briefing in October 2022 related to public health prosecutions that “set out the limits on political interference in ongoing prosecutions,” said Trussler.
“Minister Shandro did not brief the Premier on the briefing note,” she wrote.
Smith’s executive director, lawyer Rob Anderson, exchanged a number of emails with Shandro’s chief of staff and deputy justice minister, according to the commissioner. They included a briefing on the role of the attorney general “and what the government was allowed to do with respect to prosecutions,” Trussler said.
“However, there is no evidence that the Premier received this briefing,” she said.
Trussler also detailed how Anderson followed up with Shandro and his chief of staff, Christopher Thresher, “for updates on legislative options to provide amnesty.”
“No particular cases were discussed,” she said. “Premier Smith seems to have left Mr. Anderson to pursue what could be done with Covid-related charges for cases where there was no violence, no firearms involved or there was no contempt of court.”
Phone Call
The controversial telephone call between Smith and Pawlowski was requested by Smith’s long-time friend Dr. Dennis Modry, a prominent former heart surgeon.Trussler said the text only asks Smith to have a call with Pawlowski. She said, “in fairness,” the text requesting a conversation with Pawlowski did not say the reason was to discuss criminal charges.
Smith “felt blindsided when Mr. Pawlowski wanted to talk about his pending criminal trial” during that phone call, said the commissioner.
Smith took the call on Jan. 6 with Modry and Pawlowski, and unbeknown to the other parties, the pastor taped the call, which was later released by CBC and the NDP.
“An interesting sidenote is that Dr. Modry believes that the tape was edited as he remembered Mr. Pawlowski being much more aggressive and threatening than on the tape released to the public,” said the commissioner.
Justice Minister
However, the ethics commissioner said Smith’s conversation with Shandro was problematic.According to Shandro, in a phone call while the justice minister was on vacation in B.C., the premier “asked him specifically if there was anything he could do about Mr. Pawlowski’s case. She wanted him to make it go away,” Trussler wrote.
The commissioner noted that Smith “did not direct him to do so.”
“Minister Shandro told her there was nothing that could be done, and she accepted his advice,” said Trussler. However, the said, “Speaking to an Attorney General about a specific ongoing criminal case, in the way that Premier Smith did on the call with Minister Shandro, is not acceptable.”
Trussler said there was an “improper attempt to influence the independence of the legal system,” breaching Section 3 of the Conflict of Interest Act, which states legislators should not seek to influence a decision to be made by Crown prosecutors.
Trussler confirmed in her report that Smith never spoke to Crown prosecutors, as she has consistently maintained since the CBC story in January.
“The only people that she spoke to were Minister Shandro and Deputy Minister [Frank] Bosscha. It appears that whenever Premier Smith referred to the Crown Prosecutors, she meant the Justice Ministry, Minister Shandro and Deputy Minister Bosscha,” she wrote.
Smith Responds
In a statement released on May 18, Smith said she will be seeking formal guidelines on future policy discussions with her justice minister, while taking a shot at CBC and the NDP.“The Ethics Commissioner report has confirmed the CBC and NDP lied regarding Crown Prosecutor contact,” she wrote. “I was gratified to read the Ethics Commissioner’s findings confirming that neither I, nor anyone in my office, tried to or did contact any Crown Prosecutors regarding any COVID-19 prosecutions.”
“Various false and defamatory statements are now confirmed to have been made by the CBC and NDP in this matter against me and several individuals in my office,” said Smith. She said that there remains the potential of civil litigation, possibly after the election, and that she wanted to focus on campaign issues, “namely the economy, jobs, affordability, public safety and health care.”
Chuck Thompson, ahead of public affairs for CBC, said the broadcaster stands by its journalism and it sources.
“We would also note the Commissioner did not search for additional emails,” Thompson said in an email.
The Epoch Times reached out to the NDP for comment, but didn’t immediately hear back.
In her statement, Smith said she “always stated I wanted to find a path of amnesty for those charged with non-violent COVID-related offences and violations during the pandemic.”
Smith said she is not a lawyer, and spoke with Shandro who is “an experienced lawyer” to get his advice. She acknowledged that it is the commissioner’s opinion that the discussion was “inappropriate.”
“I invited the Commissioner to give me and future premiers the benefit of some guidance on how to advance sensitive policy issues similar to this with the Minister of Justice if she thought there was a more appropriate way,” said Smith.
Crown Independence
Trussler said she received a total of 56 requests for an investigation, and her “office received many calls and emails, mostly from media, to determine if we were carrying out an investigation.”She noted all participants fully cooperated, including the premier, and Smith also waived solicitor/client privilege during the investigation.
“I think that it can be said that the members of the Crown Prosecution Services were annoyed and even incensed by the allegation that one of them had received outside political pressure,” said Trussler.
She said all 44 Crown prosecutors who had Coutts or COVID-related files provided a statement that they did not receive any contact relating to their files from the premier’s office.
Additionally, “all 32 political staff members in the Premier’s office, at the relevant time, provided a statement that they did not contact any Crown Prosecutors regarding the Coutts or Covid-related files,” she said.
Trussler said she was making no recommendations with regard to her report, but reserved the right to do so once the Legislature was back in session following the election.
Leader of the NDP Rachel Notley responded to the report stating, “The Ethics Commissioner found that Danielle Smith broke the law. Albertans deserve a government they can trust ... a government led by Rachel Notley.”
