The Fox Guarding Alberta’s House of Justice #ableg #abpoli #

Here in Alberta, we’ve been watching the fallout from the SNC-Lavalin case and the Russian collusion cases from afar but we’re about to get our own front row seats.  

Alberta is getting its own Jody Wilson-Raybould or should I say Jeff Sessions? Wilson-Raybould was put into a position where she felt the need to stand up for the law. Sessions was put into a position where he needed to circumvent the law. Now we have Doug Schweitzer, whose loyalties have yet to be discovered.

When a governing party is able to appoint a guard to the laws and rights of the people it has been elected to protect what, exactly, does it take to become conflicted by its own interests?

Probably much less than actually appointing the fox to guard the hen house. But then, who would have thought the Party under investigation for voter fraud and irregular donations would actually have been elected? As Rick Bell said, social media is not indicative of real life; because who would have expected a Party with as many RCMP investigations to be elected? Certainly not social media; but the external communications of the UCP did. 

Now the UCP’s appointed Minister is now in charge of the department that will decide whether to take the UCP to court over allegations of voter fraud. 

Many people think highly of Schweitzer but I am not one of them. 

Schweitzer, an employee of Denton’s, tested the waters for his entry into the Progressive Conservative leadership race. He apparently found them uninviting and did not partake. 

He showed up in the United Conservative Party leadership instead, where his “New Blue” conservatism was more helpful. Between the far right Kenney cons and the more centrist Brian Jean supporters, Schweitzer offered a glimmer of hope to the former Progressive Conservatives who stuck around but found neither leadership hopeful appealing; a whopping 7% of registered UCP members who bothered to vote (an unknown number of whom had fake emails attached to their membership info).

Now Schweitzer is in charge of whether the province will attempt to recoup their collective harm caused by potential voter fraud; or personation, if you want the technical term. 

As some realized with the SNC-Lavalin case, and Jody Wilson-Raybould, undue influence on the law of our country is, apparently, unwanted. Does it really matter who is the criminal? I guess we will find out soon. 

Schweitzer is in the unfortunate position of having made a complaint about alleged issues in the leadership race. Does he have the future of his Party, and his own Ministerial benefits, in mind or will he pull a Wilson-Raybould and decide the law matters more than Party loyalty? 

The Ministry of Justice is definitely one to watch going forward. Between the UCP Leadership scandals, both of which involve strong party insiders and supporters, and the fact that Kenney has promised more money for prosecutors (but not legal aid) to ensure criminals with empty pockets aren’t roaming free in the province… there should be some excellent stories in the future.   

This post contains fact and opinion.

Deirdre Mitchell-MacLean

contact: [email protected]

Twitter: @Mitchell_AB for all the commentary; @thisweekinAB for posts.