PM Justin Trudeau chose not to give Liberal darling and local porch pirate George Chahal a position on his cabinet, likely due to the scandal surrounding alleged election interference committed by Chahal on election night.
As the sole Liberal MP elected in Calgary, Chahal serving as a cabinet minister would be a massive boon for Trudeau, who would have been able to use Chahal as a launchpad for influence throughout Alberta’s most populous city — spreading Liberal policies like a plague of hungry locusts.
And, before the election, this appeared to be the plan. Trudeau spent a significant amount of time campaigning with Chahal and threw his full support and admiration behind the Calgary Skyview candidate.
Unfortunately, whatever machinations were in the works have been obliterated in the wake of Chahal’s poor decisions.
As an Alberta-based outlet, The Counter Signal covered Chahal’s case thoroughly.
We last caught up with him late on October 18, wherein Chahal refused to answer reporter Keean Bexte’s questions while heading into CTV News’ HQ in Calgary to cover municipal elections with his Liberal pals.
“Mr. Chahal,” reporter Keean Bexte began, “could you tell me from how many houses did you steal election campaign material? How many houses was it, and were you targeting specifically houses that had conservative lawn signs?”
Chahal said nothing, scrambling to hide his face from media that doesn’t toe the Liberal narrative.
“Did you just make up the polling location that you sent Conservative voters to,” Bexte asked as Chahal hurried away. “Would you call that voter suppression?”
“That’s what many are calling it,” Bexte explained, “and they’re saying you only won the election because you suppressed the vote. Could you elaborate just a little bit because I’m sure your friends at CTV are not going to be asking you these questions?”
Such tough questions were, of course, not asked while he was on CTV News. They barely touched on Chahal’s scandal, even though it was headline news not so long ago.
“It was a dumb mistake,” Chahal told the hosts, “which we reported to Elections Canada.”
It was a “dumb mistake,” which Chahal’s campaign did report to Elections Canada… but only after the election was over and after he was publicly disgraced.
Currently, the state of Chahal’s case is unknown.
On October 12, The Counter Signal reached out to the Office of the Commissioner Canada Elections (CCE) to see what the status of the investigation into everyone’s favourite porch pirate George Chahal is, but the Office would not confirm whether they are even still investigating Chahal.
As per the Office of the CCE, “I cannot confirm whether the Commissioner of Canada Elections has received a complaint or has initiated an investigation into this particular issue, given the confidentiality provisions of the Canada Elections Act. That said, I would point out that these same confidentiality provisions do not extend to individuals outside of our Office, including complainants or those who may be the subject of a complaint.”
This is what many feared when it was announced the police investigation was moving into a Trudeau-adjacent body like the CCE.
Initially, Calgary Police told TCS that their anti-corruption unit would be handling Chahal’s investigation. However, on September 28, only days later, the investigation was handed off to Trudeau’s handpicked Commissioner.
Additionally, Lawyers for Jag Sahota, the incumbent Conservative MP for Calgary Skyview, are still fighting to reverse the election results of her riding due to the dubious conditions of Chahal’s victory.
The investigation came after a video captured by homeowner Glenn Pennet shows Chahal approaching the house in northeast Calgary, checking the mailbox, seeing that a Conservative poster was taped to the voter’s door, allegedly removing said poster before replacing it with his material and walking away.
Pennett spoke with The Counter Signal on September 22 and confirmed that he was filing a police report, which he subsequently did.
“And that’s him,” Pennett said, referring to the video of Chahal. “And that’s the sheet from Jag. And then he’s putting this [Liberal flyer] under my [door].”
Pennett also says that the only reason he can think of that Chahal targeted his house was that he is not a Liberal supporter, having voted Conservative ever since he had the opportunity and supporting Jag Sahota in the last election.
The Counter Signal also spoke with many of Pennett’s neighbours who say that they never received Sahota’s campaign literature, despite proudly hosting her sign on their lawns.
Whether Chahal removed their campaign literature, too, is currently unknown but not unlikely.
Having been forced to respond due to the overwhelming evidence, Chahal’s campaign admitted that Chahal took the flyer and replaced it with his own but said that he did this because his opponent’s flyer contained misinformation.
“While dropping off polling info flyers prior to polls opening on Election Day, George removed a piece of campaign literature that identified an incorrect polling location for the person residing at the address,” wrote campaign manager Randall Zalazar.
“All through Election Day, campaign volunteers found incorrectly labelled materials across the eastern side of the riding. Our campaign contacted Elections Canada and advised them of the issue.”
However, the video tells a different story. Indeed, Chahal barely looks at his opponent’s campaign literature before replacing it with his own.
Sahota, who spoke with the Sun, said she is “shocked” and “disappointed” with the video.
“If you watch the video, he made no attempt to look at the pamphlet,” she said.
Moreover, during our interview, Pennett showed The Counter Signal the new election material, directing Pennett to vote at Saint Clare Elementary School — the wrong location given his address.
“And actually, that isn’t even a voting station,” continued Pennett. “People have emailed me and told me that it isn’t a voting station.”
“[Jag’s flyer] just reminded me to go to vote, reminded me to vote, and where to vote, which is a Catholic school just around the corner from here,” explained Pennett.
“And this here — if you look at that — Coventry is 9.6 kilometres North of me. And, then, that’s not even a polling station.”
The Counter Signal investigated this issue and found that, indeed, Pennett’s polling station is at a different school just around the corner.
Moreover, Sahota recently provided her election material, which does, in fact, contain the correct polling information.
Unfortunately, it appears that justice may never be served. Chahal has emerged from his hideout to meet his fellow Liberals at the CTV, not a care in the world, and the CCE can not even confirm if he is still handling the case or if it has been thrown in a waste bin somewhere.
At least he is further away from the levers of power now than he would have been without our coverage.
