Alberta justice minister needs to be fired after latest UCP government scandal. It's that simple
CBC
This column is an opinion from Graham Thomson, an award-winning journalist who has covered Alberta politics for more than 30 years. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.
It's the phone call.
It's not the traffic ticket or even whether Alberta Justice Minister Kaycee Madu was guilty of driving through a school zone while distracted by his cell phone.
It's the fact that Madu phoned Edmonton Police Chief Dale McFee to discuss his own traffic ticket in the first place.
That's not just a slap-on-the-wrist lapse in judgment, it's a fireable offence for a justice minister.
Actually, it's a fireable infraction for any cabinet minister. The fact that the justice minister is involved makes it outrageous.
We have a long-held convention in Canadian politics that politicians, particularly cabinet ministers, do not interfere, or even give the appearance they might be interfering, in the justice system.
In 1990, for example, federal cabinet minister Jean Charest was forced to resign from cabinet as Minister of State for Amateur Sport after he phoned a judge in a case involving the Canadian Track and Field Association.
This latest scandal to hit the Alberta government is all the more outrageous because Premier Jason Kenney hasn't actually fired Madu or asked for his resignation.
In a Twitter thread Monday evening, Kenney acknowledged Madu had crossed a line and the premier expressed his "profound disappointment" in his justice minister's behaviour.
However, Kenney has merely asked Madu to "step back from his ministerial duties" and take a "leave of absence" while a "respected independent investigator" reviews the facts "to determine whether there was interference in the administration of justice in this case."
Madu has been dropped from cabinet but, then again, it appears he has been dropped onto a trampoline.
Kenney seems to be setting the stage for Madu to bounce right back.
You could easily imagine an investigation that concluded the phone call was inappropriate but did not reach the level of "interference" because Madu did not explicitly ask for the ticket to be quashed.
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