New bill would halt ethics investigations of politicians during Alberta election campaigns

Alberta's ethics commissioner will suspend investigations into provincial politicians during future election periods if proposed legislation becomes law.

A bill tabled by Justice Minister Mickey Amery Thursday proposes updating several pieces of justice legislation, including a change that would suspend investigations by the ethics commissioner during the period leading up to a general election.

"Voters are entitled to proceed during an election without undue influence. These amendments help eliminate some of those influences," Amery said.

Amery said he doesn't believe the change will result in important information being kept back from voters because he says there are other mechanisms to keep governments accountable to the public.

Trussler recommended that the legislative assembly consider the change in her May 2023 report in which she found that Premier Danielle Smith had contravened the Conflicts of Interest Act during interactions with the minister of justice in relation to criminal charges faced by Calgary street preacher Artur Pawlowski.

"Not having such a provision puts the Ethics Commissioner and the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in an extremely difficult position with respect to the timing and release of any report," Trussler wrote.  

Her report was released on May 18, just 11 days before Alberta held its general election when Smith and the United Conservative Party went on to recapture a majority government. 

Trussler's findings followed an investigation that began on March 31 after a member of the public asked if there were ongoing investigations into whether Smith pressured cabinet members or employees of the government in relation to the Coutts border blockade.

The complaint followed a January CBC news story about the premier's office contacting Crown prosecutors by email about COVID-related prosecutions. 

Trussler wrote that she found no evidence of emails, and CBC has since updated its reporting.

The proposal to suspend ethics investigations during elections is puzzling, says University of British Columbia political scientist Max Cameron.

"It looks like the premier has got herself into trouble around conflict of interest and the solution is, well, we're not going to have conflict of interest investigations during an election," Cameron said.

"It just doesn't sort of seem to add up."

Cameron said he also thinks it's odd that the commissioner herself made the recommendation at the end of a report where an investigation during an election period ended up finding that a conflict of interest occurred.