The Alberta RCMP said there was not enough evidence to charge anyone involved in the kamikaze campaign during the 2017 United Conservative Party leadership race. The centre of the campaign was UCP leadership race candidate Jeff Callaway, who ran before pulling out and endorsing candidate Jason Kenney. “We would like to highlight that in investigating allegations of criminality, the thoroughness and completeness of the inverstigation is the standard that should be assessed and that the lack of criminal charges should not be the test of a successful investigation,” said RCMP Supt. Rick Jane in a Friday press release. “In this case, experienced criminal investigators tested these allegations.” Since this investigation had concluded without charges, Callaway said in a statement to the Western Standard he was satisfied with the outcome. “To this day, I believe in my platform to bring prosperity to Alberta, but given the impact of this cloud over my life that deciminated my career, relationships, and reputation, it brings modest vindication set against the years of media hyperbole,” said Callaway. “I thank my supporters, friends, and family that supported me through this process.” While he wished people who want to make Alberta a better place well, politics will never be in his future. In 2017, the Alberta Wildrose Party and Progressive Conservatives merged to form the UCP. A UCP leadership race followed, which was an internal process with no oversight from Elections Alberta, except as it related to campaign finance laws. A few months into the UCP leadership race, Callaway dropped out and endorsed Kenney. Kenney ended up becoming UCP leader. Allegations of wrongdoing surfaced after the leadership race. In 2019, a complaint was received by the RCMP over two allegations of wrongdoing. The first allegation was over Callaway entering the race to attack UCP leadership race candidate Brian Jean, intending to pull out of it, and endorsing Kenney prior to the votecomm. Given the allegation he had portrayed himself as a legitimate candidate and was able to solicit money from people who believed he was one, the RCMP said it would be appropriate to investigate him for fraud. It said investigators reviewed his campaign debates and political advertisements used during the campaign. A review of the campaign’s financial records showed it was able to generate $95,000 in financial contributions. RCMP investigators conducted more than 170 interviews with donors and campaign staff and examined 25,000 related emails. It found there was no evidence to establish he or any other person committed fraud. In order to vote, a UCP member needed to register and receive a personal identification number by phone call, text, or email. Once the PIN was received, the member could cast a vote by phone or using an electronic voting platform. The second allegation was emails were created to receive PINs and vote on people’s behalf without their consent or knowledge. The RCMP said identity fraud was identified as the appropriate charge to investigate in these circumstances. It acknowledged it generated a list of suspicious votes, conducted interviews with more than 1,200 people, and examined their memberships and registration forms. The number of potential votes at issue in the end, which was less than 200, would not have impacted the race. This was because Kenney won with 36,625 votes (61%). Jean received 18,336 votes (31%), and UCP leadership race candidate Doug Schweitzer had 4,273 (7%). It said its investigation did not find any evidence any leadership candidate encouraged their volunteers to engage in identity fraud. With the online voting platform used by the UCP, it said it was not compromised and worked as specified. While the RCMP determined there were suspected instances of potential identity fraud, there was insufficient evidence to charge any suspect. The decision on whether or not to lay a charge in Alberta rests with police. However, the RCMP sought advice from Crown attorneys in Alberta, but they were referred to Ontario soon after. The RCMP pointed out these allegations of possible voter fraud occurred during an internal political party process and do not represent any possible fraud or shortcomings in regular elections. “In the end, Albertans can be confident that a thorough investigation independent of government was conducted,” said Jane. Kenney responded by saying he was pleased the RCMP investigation into the 2017 UCP leadership race has been closed, as it confirms he was right about there being no wrongdoing on his or his campaign’s part. “My own campaign was in careful compliance with all of the rules,” he said. “In fact, my campaign manager required that all staff and key volunteers sign an undertaking to comply with the party’s detailed rules to ensure the integrity of the membership sales and voting process and the personal privacy of members.” .In 2019, the complaints were made against him by two people who he had banned from running as UCP candidates because of unethical conduct. However, he said these complaints “led to a string of defamatory accusations and a five-year long investigation involving dozens of officers conducting nearly 2,000 interviews and spending millions of dollars of personnel time and related expenses.”
