'Leave this with me': Alberta premier heard on call with COVID-19 protester
'Leave this with me': Alberta premier heard on call with COVID-19 protester
EDMONTON -
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, in a leaked cellphone call, commiserated with a COVID-19 protester about his trial while divulging to him there was an internal dispute over how Crown prosecutors were handling COVID-19 cases.
Smith also promised on the call to intervene as best she could on Artur Pawlowski's behalf and said she was reminding prosecutors "almost weekly" about her concerns over pursuing such cases.
"I'm sorry to hear what they're putting you through," Smith is heard telling Pawlowski in the early January call, recorded on a cellphone videothat was released Wednesday by the Opposition NDP.
"I'm very sympathetic. This is very frustrating to me," the premier said.
"We'll see if we can revisit that this week."
The call was made before the trial of the Calgary pastor in February for criminal mischief and a charge under Alberta's Critical Infrastructure Defence Act. The charges relate to last year's blockade at the Canada-United States border crossing at Coutts., Alta., over COVID-19 health rules.
NDP justice critic Irfan Sabir said the call was leaked to the party over the weekend.
He said it's clear evidence Smith breached what should be a sacrosanct firewall between politics and those who are charged and prosecuted.
"What the premier is admitting here is she has been trying to get these people off in some way, and she has been calling Crown prosecutors. That's her words," said Sabir.
During the 11-minute call, Pawlowski told Smith he believed the prosecutor was seeking to thwart his defence by overwhelming his lawyers and draining his wallet.
"He dumped in our laps over a thousand of pages of documents and hundreds of hours of testimonies to frustrate our defence. The trial is in three weeks," Pawlowski tells Smith.
"We had to hire an entire legal team, which will cost over $150,000 extra, to comb though this massive additional disclosure."
Pawlowski alleged in the call that the move was orchestrated by Justice Minister Tyler Shandro.
On the call, Smith told Pawlowski that she doubted Shandro was involved.
"I doubt very much that this is being driven by the minister," Smith said. "But I have also raised it with his deputy minister and let him know my dissatisfaction with the tactics.
"Can you just leave this with me? And I will make that request one more time."
She added: "There was a case where they did something along the same lines: (a) huge document dump and then they just abandoned the case. They didn't prosecute it the next day.
"I'm watching to see evidence that (prosecutors) are going to come to this judgment that many of these cases are unwinnable and not in the public interest.
"I'm beginning to see some signs (of that). I haven't seen anything in your case yet, but if I can just maybe make that inquiry one more time."
Smith stressed to Pawlowski that she couldn't offer clemency, that prosecutors are independent and that she is restricted to reminding them all cases must be winnable and in the public interest.
She told Pawlowski she would go through Rob Anderson, her principal policy adviser. "Rob Anderson has been doing most of my work with Justice in pushing this along."
Smith told a news conference in February she had spoken to Pawlowski, but it was to advise him she could not grant him amnesty.
Smith issued a statement Wednesday: "At no time have I spoken with anyone from the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service, nor to my knowledge have any of my office's staff. Allegations to the contrary are defamatory and will be dealt with accordingly."
Anderson said in a statement: "At no time have I contacted the Crown Prosecution Service regarding this or any other related matter, and to my knowledge, I do not recall speaking with anyone charged with ongoing COVID related offences.
"The NDP's, and any other party's, direct or insinuated allegations to the contrary are defamatory and will be treated accordingly in the near future," he said.
Pawlowski could not be immediately reached for comment. A judge is set to deliver a verdict in his trial in May.
Smith has long been openly critical of COVID-19 masking, gathering and vaccine mandate rules, questioning if they were needed to fight the pandemic and labelling them intolerable violations of personal freedoms.
In October, after galvanizing party discontent with the federal government and COVID-19 restrictions, she won the leadership of the United Conservative Party to become premier.
Over the last few months, Smith has delivered multiple versions of what she said to justice officials about COVID-19 court cases. The controversy erupted early in the new year when Smith publicly acknowledged she had been taking a direct interest in the prosecutions.
Smith has said she talked to prosecutors directly and did not talk to prosecutors directly. She has said she reminded justice officials of general prosecution guidelines, but at other times reminded them to consider factors unique to COVID-19 cases. She has also suggested the conversations were ongoing but also that they had ended.
In January, she ordered an email search after a CBC story alleged a staffer in her office emailed prosecutors to question decisions and direction on cases related to the Coutts protest.
The Justice Department has said a search of ingoing, outgoing and deleted emails found no evidence of contact and that Smith had no direct contact with prosecutors.
The CBC said it did not see the emails in question but stood by its reporting.
The NDP has called for an independent investigation.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 29, 2023.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh slammed foreign interference special rapporteur David Johnston's refusal to heed the House of Commons' call for him to step down as 'tone-deaf.'
Air Canada reported a technical issue with its flight communications system on Thursday, causing delays across the country for the second time in a week.
The Royal Bank of Canada is facing issues with online and mobile banking. According to a brief message posted on Twitter, there is an issue with the digital display of transactions.
The wedding of Jordan's crown prince to the scion of a prominent Saudi family began on Thursday in a palace celebration that drew massive crowds and a mood of excitement around the kingdom, while presenting the young Hashemite royal as a new player on the global stage.
A jury Wednesday convicted a former contestant on the television game show "Family Feud" of first-degree murder and home invasion in the slaying of his estranged wife in western Illinois.
Forget your hook, line and sinker. An Israeli foodtech company says it has 3D printed the first ever ready-to-cook fish filet using animal cells cultivated and grown in a laboratory.
The prime minister's national security adviser says Ottawa needs to improve the way it manages intelligence, and officials are taking steps to address breakdowns in communication within government.
Convicted murderer Daniel Jolivet, in prison for the past 30 years, has maintained his innocence since the day he was arrested. W5 reviews the evidence he painstakingly assembled while behind bars.
W5 Producer Shelley Ayres explains how she was in awe to meet what the Guinness Book of World Record's has named the World's Tallest Teenager, a 17-year-old from Quebec who plays for Team Canada.
CTV W5 investigates what authorities knew about plans to smuggle cocaine out of the Dominican Republic on a Toronto-bound Pivot Airlines flight. The airline's crew is demanding justice following their eight-month detention.
Gordie Sampson has written hit songs for some of the biggest names in country music, including Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan. CTV W5 speaks with the Grammy winner from small-town Nova Scotia about his creative process.
A CTV W5 investigation reveals that a critical shortage of volunteer firefighters in this country is having a potentially deadly impact, especially in rural Canada.
Sandie Rinaldo tells the story of the largest Black military unit in Canadian history, whose members had to fight to serve for Canada in the First World War as they faced rampant racism at home.
The city of Ottawa fired two employees with "medical related duties" for submitting falsified vaccination status documents last year following a tip to the city's fraud and waste hotline, according to a new report from the city's auditor general.
The temperature hit 29.8 C at 11 a.m. Thursday, setting a record for the warmest June 1 in Ottawa’s history. The old record was 29.6 C, set back in 2011, according to Environment Canada.
The Royal Bank of Canada is facing issues with online and mobile banking. According to a brief message posted on Twitter, there is an issue with the digital display of transactions.
A father of two from Keswick, Ont., thought of taking some time off work after winning $5 million with the lottery but instead decided it was time to retire.
At least three units in a townhouse complex are damaged, displacing many residents, after a fire on Green Valley Drive in Kitchener on Wednesday afternoon.
Environment Canada issued a special air quality statement Thursday for parts of southwestern Ontario, saying the hot and sunny weather could lead to high levels of air pollution.
OPP are looking for Matthew Daigneault — wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for a breach of statutory release. He is described as a white man about 6’ tall, 243 lbs, with a short/receding hairline.
Residents who wish to speak with the City of Montreal by calling 311 now have to attest they can receive services in English because of Bill 96. New provisions of the language law came into effect Thursday.
The days of missing the right charger for your cellphone could be a thing of the past in Quebec. A new bill tabled in the provincial legislature Thursday aims to amend the Consumer Protection Act to require universal charging for devices like smartphones and tablets.
Police and firefighters in Montreal responded to a five-alarm fire in Montreal's Mile End neighbourhood in the extreme heat. Four firefighters were evaluated for heat stroke and five residents were displaced.
Premier Tim Houston repeated his calls for urgent firefighting help Thursday, asking Ottawa to “be proactive” with aid as multiple wildfires continue to burn out of control.
Thousands of Nova Scotians have been waiting and worrying about their homes and neighbourhoods since wildfires began burning in the province on Sunday forcing mandatory evacuations. Among them is CTV Atlantic’s Bruce Frisko, who found himself on both sides of this crisis.
A wildfire that began burning in the Upper Tantallon, N.S., area Sunday and forced the evacuation of thousands of residents is now 50 per cent contained.
The elevated walkway in Winnipeg's Fort Gibraltar that collapsed during a school field trip, sending 16 children and one adult to hospital, was last repaired a decade ago.
The City of Edmonton, Devon, and Fort Saskatchewan, along with local emergency organizations, are reminding residents to be safe when on or near the North Saskatchewan River this summer.
Air Canada reported a technical issue with its flight communications system on Thursday, causing delays across the country for the second time in a week.
Cities across Metro Vancouver are raising rainbow flags in solidarity with LGBTQ2S+ communities as June 1 marks the official start of Pride Month—with one city joining in on the annual tradition for the first time ever.
British Columbia’s lowest paid workers are getting a pay hike. The province is increasing minimum wage by more than a dollar an hour, starting Wednesday.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh slammed foreign interference special rapporteur David Johnston's refusal to heed the House of Commons' call for him to step down as 'tone-deaf.'
The prime minister's national security adviser says Ottawa needs to improve the way it manages intelligence, and officials are taking steps to address breakdowns in communication within government.
The federal government is proclaiming a National Day Against Gun Violence, to be held annually on the first Friday of June. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino and representatives of the Toronto Raptors basketball team are set to discuss the plans today at an event in Toronto.
Canada will soon require health warnings to be printed directly on individual cigarettes, making it the first country to implement this kind of measure aimed at reducing tobacco usage.
A team led by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has found physiological evidence of brain inflammation in people with cognitive and depressive symptoms months after their COVID-19 infections.
Forget your hook, line and sinker. An Israeli foodtech company says it has 3D printed the first ever ready-to-cook fish filet using animal cells cultivated and grown in a laboratory.
Attorneys representing adult entertainers, erotica authors and sex educators on Wednesday asked a judge to put on hold a Utah law requiring porn and other adult websites verify user ages.
Rapper, producer and entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs sued Diageo Wednesday, saying the spirits company didn’t make promised investments in his vodka and tequila brands and treated them as inferior “urban” products.
Some of Adidas' remaining Yeezy shoes are back on sale, months after the German sportswear company cut ties with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.
Amazon has agreed to pay more than US$30 million to settle two federal lawsuits alleging that the tech giant violated users’ privacy — including that of children — through its Alexa voice assistant and its Ring doorbell cameras.
More than three years after COVID was declared a global pandemic, a new study is looking at how the international health crisis has changed the lifestyle habits of Canadians.
Now a New York company that makes carbon-negative aviation fuel is taking the menu for interplanetary cuisine in a very different direction. Its innovation has put it in the finals of a NASA-sponsored contest to encourage development of next-generation technologies for meeting the food needs of astronauts.
Lionel Messi arrived two years ago wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with 'Ici C'est Paris' (This Is Paris) -- a favourite cry among Paris Saint-Germain fans -- and to chants of 'Messi! Messi! Messi!'
The Pittsburgh Penguins have named former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas its new president of hockey operations, the club announced Thursday.
The U.S. government's auto safety agency plans to require that all new passenger cars and light trucks include potentially life-saving automatic emergency braking and meet stricter safety standards within three years.
