Fixer says former Alberta justice minister hired him to get reporter's phone logs

David Wallace says he was hired by Jonathan Denis to get the phone records of Alanna Smith, a former Calgary Herald reporter now of The Canadian Press.

A self-described political fixer says a former Alberta justice minister hired him to obtain a reporter's phone logs. 

David Wallace says he was hired by Jonathan Denis to get the phone records of Alanna Smith, a former Calgary Herald reporter now of The Canadian Press. Wallace said Denis told him he wanted to trace sources Smith had drawn on for a story about whether the size of Denis's wedding reception broke COVID-19 protocols.

In an email from his lawyer, Denis denied that he or his clients talked to Wallace.

Wallace told The Canadian Press that Denis got his name through Alan Hallman and Gerald Chipeur, longtime conservative operatives.

"Jonathan called me (and) told me that at his wedding he feels he had been targeted for poor press," Wallace said in an interview. "He wanted to find out who (Smith's) sources were.

"He wanted me to go into my source contacts using databases to their private cellphone information communications."

Wallace said he warned Denis that obtaining phone logs could be illegal.