UCP leadership candidate Danielle Smith denies involvement in ‘fake’ prank political calls

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include a statement by a lawyer representing Craig Chandler.

A leadership candidate for the United Conservative Party is denying any involvement with a string of phone calls claiming to be from her campaign.

Danielle Smith calls it a voicemail prank that has nothing to do with her campaign.

“Clearly it is someone pretending to be on our campaign,” Smith tweeted. “It is fake. Our call centre uses a public number and was also not in operation during those call times.”

The Danielle Smith campaign refused an interview but in an email said the tweet stands as their comment.

Regarding this voicemail prank. Clearly it is someone pretending to be on our campaign. It is fake. Our call centre uses a public number & was also not in operation during those call times. Probably a good idea to refrain from jumping to conclusions from dirty tactics. #abpoli

— Danielle Smith (@ABDanielleSmith) August 22, 2022

A political scientist and the woman on the receiving end of the calls believe these calls should be investigated.

Cassandra Raugust tells CityNews the first call came Friday from an unknown number, asking if she supports Danielle Smith and her proposed sovereignty act.

“I said ‘absolutely I do not, have nice evening,’ and I hung up,” recounted Raugust. “He called back three more times, I answered, and he said ‘you are a communist, racist, (expletive).’”

Raugust says the calls continued Friday night, sharing a phone message by a man named Ernie saying he was calling on behalf of the Smith campaign, and once again calling her racist.

When the calls started again Sunday night, Raugust had a recording app ready to document the call, where she asked to be removed from the phone list and was again called a communist.

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Political scientist Duane Bratt says at this point, there’s not enough information to say where the calls are coming from.

“I don’t think we can say, well, Smith denied it so it’s not true,” said the Mount Royal University professor.

Bratt believes the UCP should conduct their own investigation, noting how this could be from another leadership campaign, the opposition, or an outside prankster.

Raugust is also calling for more investigation into this issue.

“I don’t believe that Danielle Smith knowingly knows or put a rubber stamp of approval on these types of calls,” said Raugust.

Both Bratt and Raugust suggest Craig Chandler maybe have some had a role in these call. Chandler is the executive director for the Progressive Group for Independent Business (PGIB), which runs Smith’s call centre. He has a long history with Alberta politics and scandal, having had to step down from the board of the now defunct Alberta Progressive Conservative Party for comments seen by many as Islamophobic.

A lawyer representing Chandler denied his involvement.

“Mr. Chandler was not directly or indirectly involved with any of these malicious calls,” they told CityNews in a statement. “In fact, his call centre was closed at the time that the calls were made and he has reviewed log of all calls to establish that they did not originate from him, his operation, or anyone associated with him.”

CityNews requests to speak with someone from the United Conservative Party went unanswered.