No emails found between Alberta premier's office, prosecution following weekend search, justice ministry says
CBC
A search of nearly a million government emails found no evidence of contact between Alberta premier's office staff and the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service, the province's justice ministry says.
Public service employees, who are non-partisan, conducted a weekend search "for any emails sent to or received by the relevant prosecutors and staff in the premier's office" during a four-month period, said a statement from the justice ministry Monday.
The public service commission and IT experts conducted the search between Friday and Sunday and reviewed incoming, outgoing and deleted emails, the statement said.
Premier Danielle Smith said on Saturday she had asked for the search after CBC News reported on Thursday that a premier's office staffer sent a series of emails to Crown prosecutors, challenging their assessment and direction on court cases connected to last year's Coutts border blockade and protests.
Sources told CBC News the staffer sent the emails last fall that critiqued prosecutors' assessment of charges laid and pushed back on characterizations of the protests.
CBC News has not seen the emails.
Smith said in a Monday morning statement that she is confident in the integrity and professionalism of her staff and grateful to the public service for conducting the weekend review.
"An independent Crown prosecution service, free from political interference, is integral to the preservation of public confidence in the justice system," Smith said in the statement.
In an email, Chuck Thompson, head of public affairs for CBC, said the organization stands behind the journalism in the story.
Thompson said any information about sources is confidential.
In an email Monday, Charles Mainville, director of communications for Alberta Justice, said the email search included 900 mailboxes, and would capture any messages sent between government of Alberta addresses and non-government ones.
The exact search terms are part of an investigation, and confidential, he said.
Crown prosecutor emails were searched between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31, 2022, and premier's office emails were searched between Oct. 6 and Dec. 31. 2022. Smith won the UCP leadership on Oct. 6.
Mainville did not specify whether every staff member of the premier's office and every Alberta prosecutor was included in the search.
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