Alberta’s Premier Danielle Smith issued a letter demanding state-broadcaster CBC retract its defamatory article – and condemned New Democrat Party leader Rachel Notley for propagating it.
Smith was responding to an article the CBC wrote last week.
The article suggested that Smith’s office sent multiple emails to crown prosecutors regarding the Coutts border-related charges, which would be an overreach of her powers.
The article has since been amended by CBC and found to contain unsubstantiated claims by the Public Service Commission. Yet the article remains in print.
“The Premier calls on the CBC to retract its outrageous story,” Smith said in a statement.
Smith said “enough is enough” and the article had “baseless allegations.”
“The CBC admitted it had not seen any of the emails,” Smith said.
Smith also called out New Democrat Party leader Rachel Notley, who still has not deleted her tweet that called for an investigation into the matter.
“The article was then used and editorialized by the Official Opposition to smear the reputations of the Premier, her office staff, Alberta Crown Prosecutors and the Alberta Public Service,” Smith said.
Smith further called for the CBC to apologize to everyone involved.
Prior to her United Conservative Party nomination, Premier Smith stated on multiple occasions that certain pandemic-related offenses should be granted amnesty.
Many critics accused her of intervening with the crown prosecutors’ role of pursuing justice independent from government.
“After taking office, the Premier and her staff had several discussions with the Minister of Justice and Minister officials, requesting an explanation of what policy options were available for this purpose,” she said.
She added that she followed the advice from the Minister not to pursue amnesty. Smith further said all communications were appropriate and “conducted through the proper channels.”
