#gordonmcclure — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #gordonmcclure, aggregated by home.social.
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Michael Ranger brings us the latest of Corb Lund's Citizen Initiative.
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While the Citizen Initiative Act is used to bring dangerous and unconstitutional petitions forward, like those in favour of Alberta Separation, the UCP arguably have conflicts of interest that can lead to "issue fixing" surrounding the Act due to how much power it holds over Elections Alberta. The UCP controls the selection for the very same offices that manage the Citizen Initiative Act, and other critical pieces of legislation intended to regulate the Politician. The UCP controls the resources available to Elections Alberta to investigate offences.
As noted by the CBC’s Michelle Bellefontaine, in “Alberta government ignores AG’s offer to stay on 2 more years, starts search for replacement”,
>The motion to begin a search for an auditor general was passed by the five UCP MLAs who make up the majority on the standing committee on legislative offices that overseas the office of the auditor general, the chief electoral officer, the ombudsman and public interest commissioner, the ethics commissioner and the information and privacy commissioner.
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Committee member Scott Cyr, who is the MLA for Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul, introduced the motion to set up an auditor general search committee near the end of a contentious meeting.
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>Cyr, and four of his UCP MLA colleagues — Nolan Dyck from Grande Prairie, Chelsae Petrovic from Livingstone-Macleod, Jackie Lovely from Camrose and Chantelle de Jonge from Chestermere-Strathmore — voted in favour of the motion.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/auditor-general-wylie-alberta-9.6965562
The UCP has also moved goal posts concerning Elections Alberta's ability to investigate offences and the time limits. According to the Globe's "A watchdog curtailed", by Tom Cardoso and Carrie Tait:
>Marc Mayrand, a retired public servant and Elections Canada’s chief electoral officer from 2007 to 2016, said the timelines established by the Alberta government are “not realistic.”
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>“I’ve never seen an investigation completed within a year of the commission of an offence,” he said. “It would be extremely difficult to imagine an acceptable rationale for such a short time period. Twelve months from the commission of an offence – it’s almost unimaginable to think that it can be done.”
The article also includes a table of other provinces and their time limits on Election offences, some of whom have no time limit.
https://kopitalk.net/c/canada/p/381433/alberta-justice-minister-curtailed-election-regulator-when-sam-mraiche-was-under-investi
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-alberta-justice-minister-sam-mraiche-investigation/
https://archive.ph/bXXb9
When Canadians recall that the UCP also tightly controls the funding to this very same Watchdog, there's a real fear that foxes are in the henhouse.
Global's Jack Farrell and Lisa Johnson, in "Province denies Elections Alberta’s request for $13.5 million to handle recall petitions", explored the issue of Elections Alberta requesting additional funding to properly carry out recall petitions and Citizen Initiatives. The UCP issued a chilling reminder to Chief Electoral Officer, Gordon McClure, who controls the purse strings, and who he answers to. I would suggest this does raise questions about the Chief Electoral Officer's independence, and why would such an Officer not consider resigning from the appearance of political interference.
>“To say this is straining our organization from both a staffing and space perspective is an understatement,” said McClure.
https://globalnews.ca/news/11511194/elections-albertas-recall-petition-funding/
- #AbLeg #AbPoli #CdnPoli 134
#EthicalFading #Corruption #UCP #ClimateDefense #CorbLund #ElectionsAlberta #water #AlbertaUnderSiege #WaterNotCoal #GordonMcClure #conflictofinterest #CitizenInitiativeAct
https://kopitalk.net/c/[email protected]/p/931126/corb-lund-seeks-court-review-after-rejection-of-anti-coal-petition
https://calgary.citynews.ca/2026/07/30/corb-lund-court-review-coal-petition/ -
Corb Lund seeks court review after rejection of anti-coal petition
Michael Ranger brings us the latest of Corb Lund’s Citizen Initiative.
Country musician Corb Lund and his advocacy group Water Not Coal have launched a legal challenge against Elections Alberta, asking the courts to review the decision to reject a citizen-led initiative aimed at banning new coal mining projects on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
The court application follows Elections Alberta’s early July ruling that the petition failed to meet the threshold required under the province’s Citizen Initiative Act, despite organizers submitting more than 207,000 signatures in support of the proposal.
Water Not Coal is arguing the decision was unfair and runs counter to the intent of the legislation designed to encourage public participation in democracy. The group alleges Elections Alberta applied overly strict standards when validating signatures, required voters to accurately recall details months after signing, and relied on a flawed statistical sampling process to determine whether enough signatures were valid.
While the Citizen Initiative Act is used to bring dangerous and unconstitutional petitions forward, like those in favour of Alberta Separation, the UCP arguably have conflicts of interest that can lead to “issue fixing” surrounding the Act due to how much power it holds over Elections Alberta. The UCP controls the selection for the very same offices that manage the Citizen Initiative Act, and other critical pieces of legislation intended to regulate the Politician. The UCP controls the resources available to Elections Alberta to investigate offences.
As noted by the CBC’s Michelle Bellefontaine, in “Alberta government ignores AG’s offer to stay on 2 more years, starts search for replacement”,
The motion to begin a search for an auditor general was passed by the five UCP MLAs who make up the majority on the standing committee on legislative offices that overseas the office of the auditor general, the chief electoral officer, the ombudsman and public interest commissioner, the ethics commissioner and the information and privacy commissioner.
Committee member Scott Cyr, who is the MLA for Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul, introduced the motion to set up an auditor general search committee near the end of a contentious meeting.
Cyr, and four of his UCP MLA colleagues — Nolan Dyck from Grande Prairie, Chelsae Petrovic from Livingstone-Macleod, Jackie Lovely from Camrose and Chantelle de Jonge from Chestermere-Strathmore — voted in favour of the motion.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/auditor-general-wylie-alberta-9.6965562
The UCP has also moved goal posts concerning Elections Alberta’s ability to investigate offences and the time limits. According to the Globe’s “A watchdog curtailed”, by Tom Cardoso and Carrie Tait:
Marc Mayrand, a retired public servant and Elections Canada’s chief electoral officer from 2007 to 2016, said the timelines established by the Alberta government are “not realistic.”
“I’ve never seen an investigation completed within a year of the commission of an offence,” he said. “It would be extremely difficult to imagine an acceptable rationale for such a short time period. Twelve months from the commission of an offence – it’s almost unimaginable to think that it can be done.”
The article also includes a table of other provinces and their time limits on Election offences, some of whom have no time limit.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-alberta-justice-minister-sam-mraiche-investigation/
When Canadians recall that the UCP also tightly controls the funding to this very same Watchdog, there’s a real fear that foxes are in the henhouse.
Global’s Jack Farrell and Lisa Johnson, in “Province denies Elections Alberta’s request for $13.5 million to handle recall petitions”, explored the issue of Elections Alberta requesting additional funding to properly carry out recall petitions and Citizen Initiatives. The UCP issued a chilling reminder to Chief Electoral Officer, Gordon McClure, who controls the purse strings, and who he answers to. I would suggest this does raise questions about the Chief Electoral Officer’s independence, and why would such an Officer not consider resigning from the appearance of political interference.
“To say this is straining our organization from both a staffing and space perspective is an understatement,” said McClure.
https://globalnews.ca/news/11511194/elections-albertas-recall-petition-funding/
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EVIDENCE SUGGESTS UCP JOINED APRIL 16 CENTURION PROJECT MEETING; FORMER PREMIER’S DATA SHARED
https://www.albertandpcaucus.ca/news/post/evidence-suggests-ucp-joined-april-16-centurion-project-meeting-former-premier-s-data-shared
A connection is alleged between the UCP and the Centurion Project’s Elections Alberta Data Leak.
>EDMONTON — Alberta’s NDP Caucus has obtained video evidence that appears to show that a senior member of the United Conservative Party (UCP) party executive and a member of the UCP Caucus staff, people that are in the Premier’s inner circle, attended the April 16 online meeting of the Centurion Project. This meeting provided training to volunteers on how to use the separatists’ project database that is at the centre of this data breach of three million Albertans’ electoral data.
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>The Alberta NDP Caucus obtained a recording of the Centurion Project’s April 16 online meeting, attended by 80 individuals. The attendee list and a video recording of the call identify that a ‘Rob Smith’ and an ‘Arundeep Sandhu’ were in attendance. The President of the UCP is named Rob Smith and the UCP Caucus Director of Stakeholder Relations is named Arundeep Sandhu.
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>Alberta’s New Democrats have passed this recording on to the RCMP as they continue their investigation.
#EthicalFading #CorruptCare #UCP #democracy #ElectionsAlberta #surveillance #AlbertaUnderSiege #SamMraiche #DanielleSmith #MickeyAmery #DavidParker #DaleNally #Centurion #ElectionsAlbertaDataLeak #GordonMcClure #CameronDavies #ArundeepSandhu #RobSmith
#AbLeg #AbPoli #CdnPoli 7 -
EVIDENCE SUGGESTS UCP JOINED APRIL 16 CENTURION PROJECT MEETING; FORMER PREMIER’S DATA SHARED
A connection is alleged between the UCP and the Centurion Project’s Elections Alberta Data Leak.
EDMONTON — Alberta’s NDP Caucus has obtained video evidence that appears to show that a senior member of the United Conservative Party (UCP) party executive and a member of the UCP Caucus staff, people that are in the Premier’s inner circle, attended the April 16 online meeting of the Centurion Project. This meeting provided training to volunteers on how to use the separatists’ project database that is at the centre of this data breach of three million Albertans’ electoral data.
The Alberta NDP Caucus obtained a recording of the Centurion Project’s April 16 online meeting, attended by 80 individuals. The attendee list and a video recording of the call identify that a ‘Rob Smith’ and an ‘Arundeep Sandhu’ were in attendance. The President of the UCP is named Rob Smith and the UCP Caucus Director of Stakeholder Relations is named Arundeep Sandhu.
Alberta’s New Democrats have passed this recording on to the RCMP as they continue their investigation.
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https://thewalrus.ca/how-did-an-alberta-separatist-group-get-its-hands-on-the-voter-list/
At this point, Canadians are witnessing one of the worst crashes on the public stage in history. A UCP embroiled in allegations of corruption with CorruptCare now sees separatist organizations responsible for one of the greatest data leak in Canadian history. Even more concerning is how the separatist organizations are all led by individuals affiliated with the UCP, and in some ways either travel in the same circles as Danielle Smith or have relationships with the Alberta Premier.
Justice Minister Mickey Amery looks to stand nearly at the eye of the hurricane, with allegations of conflicts of interest arising from the Corrupt Care scandals mixing with his role in these legislative amendments leading up to the Elections Alberta Data Leak.
The Walrus’ Patrick Lennox brings a review of events leading up to the Elections Alberta Data Leak, and an opinion of the seriousness of this breach. I’ll share a highlight below. I would add that these amendments to how Elections Alberta operated came at a time when Justice Minister Mickey Amery may have been seen interfering with the active EA investigations upon Sam Mraiche and others in the Corrupt Care scandals.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-alberta-justice-minister-sam-mraiche-investigation/
https://archive.ph/bXXb9
https://kopitalk.net/c/canada/p/381433/alberta-justice-minister-curtailed-election-regulator-when-sam-mraiche-was-under-investi
#EthicalFading #CorruptCare #democracy #ElectionsAlberta #surveillance #AlbertaUnderSiege #SamMraiche #DanielleSmith #MickeyAmery #DavidParker #DaleNally #Centurion #ElectionsAlbertaDataLeak #GordonMcClure #CameronDavies
https://kopitalk.net/c/canada/p/438166/how-did-an-alberta-separatist-group-get-its-hands-on-the-voter-list-the-walrus
#AbLeg #AbPoli #CdnPoli 6 -
How Did an Alberta Separatist Group Get Its Hands on the Voter List? | The Walrus
At this point, Canadians are witnessing one of the worst crashes on the public stage in history. A UCP embroiled in allegations of corruption with CorruptCare now sees separatist organizations responsible for one of the greatest data leak in Canadian history. Even more concerning is how the separatist organizations are all led by individuals affiliated with the UCP, and in some ways either travel in the same circles as Danielle Smith or have relationships with the Alberta Premier.
Justice Minister Mickey Amery looks to stand nearly at the eye of the hurricane, with allegations of conflicts of interest arising from the Corrupt Care scandals mixing with his role in these legislative amendments leading up to the Elections Alberta Data Leak.
The Walrus’ Patrick Lennox brings a review of events leading up to the Elections Alberta Data Leak, and an opinion of the seriousness of this breach. I’ll share a highlight below. I would add that these amendments to how Elections Alberta operated came at a time when Justice Minister Mickey Amery may have been seen interfering with the active EA investigations upon Sam Mraiche and others in the Corrupt Care scandals.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-alberta-justice-minister-sam-mraiche-investigation/
But outrage and disbelief at the civil servants who staff Elections Alberta is misplaced. In May of 2025, after the Liberal Party secured a minority Parliament, the UCP switched into full MAGA mode and started passing legislation that seemed geared to bring on a secession referendum. It also started tinkering in anti-democratic ways with the rules around elections. One example of this—amongst many—was Bill 54, which became the Election Statutes Amendment Act, 2025. It did three things of relevance to this discussion. The first was it set Elections Alberta’s investigative bar beyond that which common citizens’ complaints could reasonably expect to reach.
The response to Gerson is exhibit A. But it could very well be exhibit ZZZ. We know about Gerson’s complaint, because, well, she’s Jen Gerson. We don’t know how many other complaints have been concluded in the same way without investigation because Elections Alberta was unauthorized to investigate.
The second was to make it mandatory for Elections Alberta to inform anyone they were investigating that they were, in fact, investigating them. Combined with the first change, the effect was to cripple the agency by stripping investigators of the ability to conduct discreet inquiries, thus giving targets time to coordinate stories, pressure witnesses, or destroy evidence. A third change limited the length of time Elections Alberta had to investigate a complaint to a single year, down from three.
Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure warned at the time that this would make things difficult for the regulator. He argued that none of the significant investigations Elections Alberta had conducted over the previous five years would have concluded under the new authorities. He noted in documents sent to Justice Minister Mickey Amery that “we are not aware of any other jurisdiction in Canada that has imposed a similar standard to initiate investigations.” …