No criminal charges in 2017 UCP leadership race: Alberta RCMP
"This wasn't a widespread situation, there was no technological hacking, there was no use of foreign interference"
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After a more than five-year long investigation, Alberta RCMP said Friday there isn’t enough evidence to charge anyone in connection to allegations of fraud during the 2017 United Conservative Party leadership race.
The case was opened in 2019, after former UCP MLA Prab Gill filed two complaints to the RCMP over the leadership contest that saw Jason Kenney win 61 per cent of the vote, and eventually become premier.
The so-called kamikaze leadership campaign of Jeff Callaway came under the Mounties’ microscope after allegations he entered the race only to attack fellow candidate Brian Jean and pull out to endorse Kenney. The Callaway campaign collected about $95,000 in donations, something RCMP said prompted it to look into potential criminal fraud.
While Callaway was fined $70,000 for irregular contributions in the race by the elections commissioner, RCMP said they did not uncover evidence to charge anyone with fraud. A judge last year ordered the Callaway’s fine be reconsidered, but he was only one of several people connected to the campaign who by 2019 saw more than $200,000 in collective fines related to election finance rules.
The party race was also tainted by accusations of voter identity fraud. Some registered members said they never cast a ballot, even though voting records showed ballots were cast under their names.
Alberta RCMP Supt. Rick Jané told reporters police looked at the UCP’s voter database of more than 60,000 voters, and after investigation, flagged fewer than 200 “suspicious” votes. However, while RCMP suspected potential instances of identity fraud, there wasn’t enough evidence to tie them to any suspects or lay charges.
Gill originally alleged that thousands of fake votes were cast for Kenney, and that his campaign team created fraudulent email addresses in order to obtain a personal identification number (PIN) needed to vote electronically. At the time, Kenney pushed back, calling it a ridiculous conspiracy theory.
Although the UCP voter database showed if a vote had been cast using a specific PIN number, RCMP said Friday because it was a secret ballot, it did not indicate which candidate got the check mark.
Jané also emphasized that the 200 “suspicious” votes, even if they could be proven in court as being fraudulent, would not have impacted the leadership contest because Kenney won by such a sizable margin. In the end, Kenney took 36,625 votes, compared to 18,336 for Jean, the runner-up, who is now the UCP energy minister.
“Even for cases that appear to be voter fraud or identity fraud, there can be innocent explanations,” Jané said, saying it wasn’t illegal for one phone number or email to receive multiple PINs.
“This wasn’t a widespread situation, there was no technological hacking, there was no use of foreign interference. This was a situation where it appears that, and it is possible in some cases, somebody obtained personal information that allowed them to register and receive a PIN to vote and then pass that vote,” he said.
However, RCMP declined to name anyone else who was the subject of the investigation, nor would it discuss the details of the evidence, or lack thereof.
‘A total vindication’: Kenney
In a statement posted to social media Friday, Kenney said the RCMP’s announcement confirmed that there was no wrongdoing on his part or his leadership campaign, and the complaints were “ridiculous, bad-faith complaints (that) led to a string of defamatory accusations.”
“Today’s outcome is a total vindication of my 2017 leadership campaign, and the UCP’s administration of that election,” he wrote, speculating that the investigation cost millions of dollars “of personnel time and related expenses.”
Jean also issued a statement Friday welcoming closure on the file.
“The victim in this matter was our party which was put together by so many people of good will who sacrificed lots to bring together two parties and two organizations into one,” he wrote, adding that before the 2022 leadership race that saw UCP Premier Danielle Smith elevated to power, the UCP “tightened safeguards” to protect members and ensure fairness.
‘Cheating isn’t necessarily illegal’: political scientist
Mount Royal political scientist Duane Bratt told Postmedia Friday that, in the public mind, Kenney will not be vindicated, because documents showing collaboration between the Callaway and Kenney campaigns remain on the public record.
“There’s a difference between ethical and criminal behaviour,” said Bratt, adding Kenney didn’t need to cheat to win the leadership race.
“But what he wanted was a definitive victory, and that’s why I think he cheated. Cheating isn’t necessarily illegal, but it can still be wrong,” he said, noting that you can’t charge someone with fraud if donors knew the candidate wasn’t in it to win in the first place.
The RCMP case involved the work of 65 investigators, almost 1,800 interviews, and translation assistance for Arabic, South Asian and Chinese languages.
It cost almost $461,000 in overtime and travel expenses — not including regular salaries. Jané declined to say how much those salaries might add up to, saying it would only be a guess because some police officers weren’t dedicated to the case the entire time.
“It costs money to investigate things thoroughly, and this was not an outlier,” he said, adding that the completeness of the investigation is the standard it should be judged by — not the lack of criminal charges.
After the RCMP sought advice from Alberta Crown prosecutors, they were shuffled to the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General who assigned their own Crown prosecutors to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
While the case appears to be closed for now, Jané said if new information arises, police would have to consider picking up the investigation again.
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