Jason Kenney says he was interviewed by RCMP during investigation into 2017 leadership race

EDMONTON—Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says he’s been interviewed by the RCMP once since it launched an investigation into allegations of identity fraud carried out during the 2017 United Conservative Party leadership race.

That interview took place in “early February” of this year — about three years after the probe began — according to a spokesperson for the premier.

The revelation comes on the eve of a party leadership review set to begin next month which will ask UCP members if they still approve of Kenney.

“Yes, I did an interview … once, and, as I’ve said from the very beginning, we would always be happy to answer questions,” the premier said in response to a question from the Star during a Monday news conference in Edmonton. “Answered a bunch of questions about the events of 2017.

“At the end of the day, my campaign did everything it could to carefully follow all of the rules, and I’m confident we did so.”

The Mounties had been investigating allegations of identity fraud in the United Conservative Party’s 2017 leadership race after a former MLA of the party wrote a letter in February 2019, detailing accusations that fake votes had been cast during the contest through an email scheme.

The RCMP confirmed after receiving the letter that it had launched a probe into allegations of identity fraud. It’s continued for years.

Fraser Logan, an RCMP spokesperson, said the investigation is “still ongoing” and that “the premier was interviewed by RCMP investigators, and he was co-operative.”

Logan said he couldn’t give details about when the interview took place and a request to a spokesperson from the premier’s office went unanswered on Monday.

The original allegations stemmed from former MLA Prab Gill, who outlined the scheme in his letter to police.

When members were signed up to the UCP, the letter stated, photocopies of personal IDs were required from them. Applicants would have a voting password sent to them by email or text message. The member could then participate in party voting, such as the UCP leadership race, using their password.

However, according to the letter, fake emails were used to cast fraudulent votes.

A story published by CBC in April 2019 appeared to confirm that fraudulent emails had been used in the 2017 UCP leadership race in order to cast ballots.

Kenney won that race against former Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean amid other allegations of election tampering.

Police were also notified by Alberta’s former election commissioner about “irregular financial contributions” in 2019. The commissioner had been probing another incident in the 2017 leadership race, in which Jeff Callaway allegedly ran as a “kamikaze candidate” using illicit funds.

Leaked documents obtained by the Star in 2019 appeared to corroborate the claim that Callaway’s campaign was controlled by the Kenney team in a scheme to ensure Callaway attacked Kenney’s biggest rival, Jean, on things the now-premier didn’t want to be seen doing himself .

Fast-forward to the present day: Jean is back in politics and hoping to take over as leader of the UCP, after winning a byelection in Fort McMurray on a platform toust Kenney.

Kenney faces a leadership review that will be conducted by mail; the ballots go out next month and must be returned by May 11. The vote was originally supposed to occur in person on April 9 in Red Deer during a six-hour window of voting but the party’s board decided to go to mail-in ballots after 15,000 people registered to show up to vote on the premier’s future.

The change prompted some UCP MLAs to call into question the party’s motives and suggest that the shift to mail-in ballots was being done to give Kenney an advantage.

However, the party and Kenney have said giving more members of the UCP the opportunity to vote means the review will be more democratic. The party boasts of having around 55,000 members.

Opponents of Kenney have said the large number expected to turn out for the in-person voting meant there was likely a lot of anger out there, which wouldn’t bode well for Kenney.