Alberta has appointed an out-of-province Crown prosecutor to provide advice in the investigation into voting irregularities in the 2017 United Conservative Party leadership election.
“This was an independent decision of the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service,” Eric Tolppanen, the head of the service, said in a news release Wednesday.
“As with other prosecutorial decisions in general, the decision was made independently and without the direction, nor seeking of direction, from elected officials,” Tolpannen said.
The Ministry of the Attorney General in Ontario has appointed a prosecutor who will be responsible for providing advice to the police at their request, he said.
The release doesn’t name the independent prosecutor. CBC has called the Ontario Attorney General and Alberta Justice with a request to provide that information.
Tolpannen’s statement comes one day after NDP justice critic Kathleen Ganley pushed Justice Minister Doug Schweitzer to confirm whether someone has been appointed and described the runaround the NDP has experienced trying to get information out of Alberta Justice and the RCMP.
“Given, Mr. Speaker, that we continue to wait for the Attorney General to actually name the human being who will perform this work and given that he continues to pass the buck to the police, who cannot name this person, will the Attorney General tell this House if there’s a special prosecutor, a secret prosecutor, or no prosecutor at all?” she asked.
Schweitzer had earlier refused to consider an outside prosecutor in the investigation of alleged voter fraud in the UCP leadership vote despite raising concerns himself about voter fraud during the 2017 UCP leadership vote and being personally questioned by the Mounties about the matter in May.
On May 30, the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service announced it would seek an out-of-province prosecutor to provide advice to police.
Prosecutors do not oversee investigations, Tolpannen said in the news release.
“As before, the RCMP continue to investigate this matter independently, both of government and the prosecution service,” Tolpannen said.
The Alberta Crown Prosecution Service will no longer be involved in the investigation, Tolpannen said.