Phillips can’t spin herself out of her own web
Alberta Environment Minister Shannon Phillips is caught in a web of her own making. The more she tries to talk herself out of it, the more tangled the web grows.
And that has led to the United Conservative Party’s justice critic, Mike Ellis, to call for her to resign from the Bighorn file — the NDP government’s proposal to create a wildland park, three provincial parks and four provincial recreation areas in the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
“Sadly, this minister chose to politicize our law enforcement, mislead Albertans and baselessly slandered countless concerned Albertans as behaving in a way that warranted exceptional RCMP intervention,” said Ellis, the MLA for Calgary-West and a former Calgary police sergeant.
Moments before Ellis held his media conference in front of McDougall Centre in downtown Calgary, Phillips held a teleconference with reporters designed to clarify matters, but only complicated things even more.
Here is a sequence of events of what Phillips has told Albertans with regard to why on Saturday she decided to cancel four public information sessions about the Alberta NDP government’s rush to establish a new Bighorn Wildland Provincial Park.
On Saturday, Phillips issued a three-page statement, stating: “In recent weeks I have become increasingly concerned about the inflamed rhetoric and inaccurate statements made by some organi- zations and individuals on social media. This has led to significant misinformation on the status and substance of the proposal for Bighorn Country and, more recently, allegations of bullying, abuse and concerns over personal safety.” As a result, Phillips said she was “very disappointed to announce that the upcoming sessions for Drayton Valley, Red Deer, Sundre and Edmonton will be cancelled.”
Nowhere in that statement does she mention the RCMP.
On Sunday, Phillips told Postmedia reporter Janet French: “In conversation with both my senior officials and the RCMP, it was determined that at this point we can’t necessarily guarantee the safety of the public given some of the content that has been shared with us.”
When told that Jason Nixon, the UCP MLA for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House- Sundre, called cancellation of the meetings “arbitrary,” Phillips said: “The safety of Albertans and conversations with the RCMP are never arbitrary.”
On Monday, I called Const. Mike Hibbs, the media-relations officer for Alberta RCMP K Division’s southern district. He said: “I’m not aware of anything — of any threats at all.”
Also on Monday, Phillips’s spokesperson sent out a statement in response to questions that again, in writing, made no mention of the RCMP.
“The minister’s decision was based off concerning allegations made by members of the public, concerns from vendors at the facilities we booked with, and advice from Government of Alberta safety and security officials organizing these sessions.”
On Tuesday, Phillips sent a tweet, stating: “We are also working to reschedule the public information sessions in the days ahead for each of those communities if we can ensure public safety.”
That’s good news for the most affected communities, who say they are having trouble getting clear information about the implications of creating a huge swath of new parks where they live and work.
On Wednesday, RCMP spokesman Fraser Logan issued a written statement via email, stating: “Alberta RCMP did not provide any official advice to Alberta Environment and Parks regarding the Bighorn public consultations.
“We can confirm we have been contacted by some members of the public who wanted the police to be aware of some concerning social media interactions around the Bighorn public consultation,” said the RCMP statement. “Alberta RCMP can confirm that we do not have any ongoing investigations relating to the consultations.”
At about the same time, Phillips held a teleconference with reporters to clarify confusion about what exactly is going on: Did she or didn’t she receive advice from the RCMP about shutting down the open house public meetings?
During that media availability, Phillips said: “I know that there are at least two open investigations — open files — with file investigation numbers, with respect to allegations of safety concerns for the public in and around, in central Alberta,” directly contradicting the earlier RCMP statement.
Finally, at around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Phillips sent out a new tweet, stating: “Earlier today, I misspoke in a media interview regarding the work of the RCMP. I am aware of two complaints to RCMP that resulted in file numbers. As the RCMP confirmed today, they have received concerns from the public and do not currently have any open investigations.”
Misspoke? Misspeaking is when you call John Joe or Mary Martha.
It kind of makes it difficult to believe the rest of what she has to say on this issue.
Phillips said nine government officials have been harassed, some of them verbally and two of them seriously, but wouldn’t give details. “This situation is fluid,” she said. “We will continue to liaise with both law enforcement, with local communities, with the venues.”
How she can “continue to liaise with law enforcement” when she hasn’t started to liaise?
Ellis called on Phillips to resign from the Bighorn file and said that misleading Albertans “is part of a pattern” for the minister.
“For example, last March in the legislature she claimed that she had met with the mayor of Rocky Mountain House about the Bighorn plan. It was subsequently uncovered that no such meeting took place.
“Last fall we exposed that the minister personally protested and advocated against the Northern Gateway Pipeline. The minister denied this, despite our presenting clear photographic and video evidence proving her wrong.”
She has tainted what has already been a contentious process, says Ellis.
“Taking all of this into consideration, we do not say this lightly, there is a severe lack of trust in the region. It would be best if the minister stepped aside and another minister oversaw this process for the Bighorn region.”
I agree. No amount of spinning can get Phillips out of her own web.