The CBC has doubled down on its story alleging improper contact between the Office of the Premier and the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service. The CBC claims it has more than one source asserting they have seen emails that passed between the two offices that in the opinion of the sources, were 'inappropriate." The suggestion is that the Smith government was trying to help people with whom she sympathises, but whose principled defiance of COVID-19 regulations, or their participation in the Coutts Convoy protest, put them offside with the law..In other words, grand political interference with the administration of justice..Now we don't know what beyond 'inappropriate' the exact tenor of these emails may be. After all, there should be no problem with a government seeking advice on blanket amnesty for an entire group..What would be a problem, would be interference with individual cases..Obviously, if that's true, it’s a huge story. And with four months to an election, the consequences for the United Conservative Party could be disastrous.. CBC .The sources would know that..So would the CBC..That’s something to keep in mind when trying to figure out what’s going on here, although the CBC specifically denies that this is a politically motivated "hit job.".Nevertheless, the CBC has taken a huge chance with their credibility. They’d better be able to back this story up..Leaks are the stuff of news reporting, of course. Heaven knows, the Western Standard lives on them. Here's an old favourite from during the dog days of the Kenney administration..But, presented with something really juicy on somebody I would like to see lose an election by an informant who swore on a whole stack of Bibles that they had personally seen damning evidence but couldn’t show it to me, who wouldn’t put their name to it for fear of career repercussions and to then rely on their assessment of how inappropriate it was… I'm not that courageous..At the very least, even if I wasn’t going to publish the evidence, I would want to see it..But that’s pretty much where the CBC is. They have a source who won’t be named, who says they’ve seen e-mails they consider 'inappropriate.' When the CBC broke the story, we assumed they had at least been shown these e-mails. But it was only in an update to the story later, that the CBC specifically said they had not viewed the emails..Neither, apparently, has the Government of Alberta. The offices of the premier and the justice minister have conducted a search and say nothing came to light..People who don’t like Smith, won’t buy it of course..Meanwhile, the CBC digs in..There’s an easy way to end this..If the e-mails exist, the CBC should produce them..If they say what the CBC says they do, the Smith government has some explaining to do..Otherwise, the CBC should retract the story. It would be the right thing to do.
The CBC has doubled down on its story alleging improper contact between the Office of the Premier and the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service. The CBC claims it has more than one source asserting they have seen emails that passed between the two offices that in the opinion of the sources, were 'inappropriate." The suggestion is that the Smith government was trying to help people with whom she sympathises, but whose principled defiance of COVID-19 regulations, or their participation in the Coutts Convoy protest, put them offside with the law..In other words, grand political interference with the administration of justice..Now we don't know what beyond 'inappropriate' the exact tenor of these emails may be. After all, there should be no problem with a government seeking advice on blanket amnesty for an entire group..What would be a problem, would be interference with individual cases..Obviously, if that's true, it’s a huge story. And with four months to an election, the consequences for the United Conservative Party could be disastrous.. CBC .The sources would know that..So would the CBC..That’s something to keep in mind when trying to figure out what’s going on here, although the CBC specifically denies that this is a politically motivated "hit job.".Nevertheless, the CBC has taken a huge chance with their credibility. They’d better be able to back this story up..Leaks are the stuff of news reporting, of course. Heaven knows, the Western Standard lives on them. Here's an old favourite from during the dog days of the Kenney administration..But, presented with something really juicy on somebody I would like to see lose an election by an informant who swore on a whole stack of Bibles that they had personally seen damning evidence but couldn’t show it to me, who wouldn’t put their name to it for fear of career repercussions and to then rely on their assessment of how inappropriate it was… I'm not that courageous..At the very least, even if I wasn’t going to publish the evidence, I would want to see it..But that’s pretty much where the CBC is. They have a source who won’t be named, who says they’ve seen e-mails they consider 'inappropriate.' When the CBC broke the story, we assumed they had at least been shown these e-mails. But it was only in an update to the story later, that the CBC specifically said they had not viewed the emails..Neither, apparently, has the Government of Alberta. The offices of the premier and the justice minister have conducted a search and say nothing came to light..People who don’t like Smith, won’t buy it of course..Meanwhile, the CBC digs in..There’s an easy way to end this..If the e-mails exist, the CBC should produce them..If they say what the CBC says they do, the Smith government has some explaining to do..Otherwise, the CBC should retract the story. It would be the right thing to do.