Premier Danielle Smith walks back ‘imprecise’ words about talks with prosecutors on COVID cases

Danielle Smith has walked back previous comments about calling Crown prosecutors to discuss COVID-19 cases, saying her “language may have been imprecise.”

The Alberta premier issued a clarification Friday after she was asked at a news conference Thursday if she would push to have charges dropped against individuals accused of violating pandemic measures.

“We do have an independent justice department, and independent Crown prosecutors and I have asked them to consider all charges under the lens of is it in the public interest to pursue and is there a reasonable likelihood of conviction,” Smith told reporters Thursday.

However, Smith says in her latest statement that she meant that she had talked to the attorney general and deputy attorney general about her concerns with COVID court cases, adding she never communicated with Crown prosecutors.

“While my language may have been imprecise in these instances, I was referring to the process and discussions above and the advice I received from the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General,” her Friday statement reads.

“At no time have I communicated with Crown prosecutors.”

Premier Danielle Smith says her language was "imprecise" when she said she had talked to prosecutors about COVID court cases.

She says she met with AG and deputy, and never communicated with Crown prosecutors. #yeg #yyc #ableg pic.twitter.com/JJbbfx3Sbc

— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) January 13, 2023

Meanwhile, a clip of Smith from late December emerged on Thursday, with her saying — in her own words — that she has talked to prosecutors about COVID-19 court cases.

“I put it to the prosecutors and I’ve asked them to a review of the cases, with those two things in mind, and I hope we see a true turning of the page,” said Smith in an interview with Rebel News.

Smith’s comments prompted allegations of political interference in the justice system.

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The NDP is calling for an independent investigation into Smith’s comments, arguing that she either appeared to meddle in the justice system or is covering up lies.

“She’s scrambling. She is either lying now or she was lying then. Clearly lying is happening. There is a lot of lying going on,” NDP Leader Rachel Notley said. “We have yet another example of the premier being caught in a lie so were in a position of having a habitually lying premier.”

“The deputy attorney general in relation to these types of issues is equally independent and entitled to the same level of independence as those individual crowns are so quite frankly that doesn’t make it any better,” Notley continued.

CityNews spoke with Duane Bratt, a political scientist with Mount Royal University, who says Smith’s comments are another example of the difficulty in leaving her previous career behind.

“If she had just said we have an independent court system and stopped, then there’s no controversy,” said Bratt. “That works on the radio because no one is going back and fact-checking radio hosts’ commentary, but when you’re the premier of the province? She’s still having trouble making that adjustment?”

He believes an independent investigation would cut through the confusion linking it to the probe into then Justice Minister Kaycee Madu’s call to Edmonton’s Police Chief over a traffic ticket.

However, Bratt says it’s unlikely Smith would be disciplined – comparing it to the fallout for Justin Trudeau in the wake of the SNC Lavelin controversy.

“While Kaycee Madu can be punished by Jason Kenney, we now have a situation where it’s the premier, the first minister. Ultimately, the only people who can make that judgment are voters.

-With files from The Canadian Press