MLA alleges irregularities in UCP campaign

Independent MLA Prab Gill is asking the RCMP to investigate after making allegations of voter fraud during the 2017 United Conservative Party leadership campaign.

Gill, a former UCP MLA, says that thousands of fake votes were cast for UCP Leader Jason Kenney after Kenney’s campaign team created “fraudulent email addresses.”

None of Gill’s allegations have been proven and the RCMP has not indicated whether they will investigate the matter.

“At the time I thought all of this was only cheating and dirty politics,” Gill wrote in a Feb. 11 letter sent to RCMP Deputy Commissioner Curtis Zablocki.

The RCMP confirmed receipt of the letter Wednesday.

“We’ve been in contact with the office of the Alberta elections commissioner,” said RCMP spokesman Fraser Logan, adding he won’t comment further.

UCP executive director Janice Harrington said Wednesday that significant safeguards were put in place to avoid voter fraud and that the party used a private contractor with advanced technology.

“For example, all voting members had to physically verify their identity using government-issued ID,” she said in a statement. “This was specifically to prevent mass signups of false memberships. Methods were also used to ensure that a high volume of votes were not being cast from the same location.”

The results of the leadership race were certified by the security firm and audited by a CPA-designated firm, she said.

“And all leadership campaigns signed off on the results,” she said, adding Kenney won on the first ballot by more than 17,000 votes.

Deputy Premier Sarah Hoffman said the allegations are serious and “criminal in nature.”

“Jason Kenney needs to be very clear with Albertans about what happened here,” she said in a statement Wednesday.

Gill said he believes “possibly thousands of individuals were impacted.” He also said that he was personally told “the campaign had created 1,000’s of emails somewhere off-shore, which would be used for voting for Mr. Kenney in the leadership vote (sic).”

In his letter, Gill alleges that a nominated Calgary UCP candidate operated a “Kenney voting kiosk” where fraudulent emails were accessed. He said he was told there were other similar groups in Alberta.

Gill, member for Calgary- Greenway, stepped down as deputy UCP caucus whip after he was alleged to have been involved in voting irregularities during a constituency meeting.