‘I have been made aware of an appalling clip involving a phone bank contractor we engaged to assist our campaign that I feel is offensive and entirely unacceptable,’ she said in a tweet.
UCP leadership candidate Danielle Smith has dropped her campaign’s phone operatives after videos surfaced showing former Alberta justice minister Jonathan Denis appearing to mock Indigenous people.
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On Wednesday, after at least three of the videos circulated widely, Smith tweeted that she was dumping a phone bank contractor working for her campaign. The contractor was later identified as the conservative political organization Progressive Group for Independent Business.
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“I have been made aware of an appalling clip involving a phone bank contractor we engaged to assist our campaign that I feel is offensive and entirely unacceptable,” she said in a tweet.
“I will not be associated with such behaviour and have instructed my campaign to terminate any contract or other dealings with the involved company.”
I have been made aware of an appalling clip involving a phone bank contractor we engaged to assist our campaign that I feel is offensive and entirely unacceptable. I will not be associated with such behaviour and have instructed /1
Smith said that as a person of Indigenous ancestry, she stands in solidarity with First Nations people to “dispel any and all stereotypes that undermine their invaluable contributions to our country.” (Smith has previously said her grandmother had a relative who was Cherokee.)
Regarding the videos, Smith said: “To be clear, the former justice minister in the clip has never had any role in my campaign.”
The videos show a man, apparently Denis, speaking in an exaggerated voice into a phone, making comments including “you’re passing the liquor store” and “the province has taken away our casino . . . just a bunch of white men coming after us.”
In a statement, Denis said he doesn’t recall speaking those words.
“I have no recollection of these events, however, it is possible I said them years ago while under the influence of alcohol. If so, I am truly sorry,” he said.
“I acknowledge that I overused alcohol in the past and have not in some time. If these are real events, I apologize unreservedly to anyone that I offended.”
He also noted “the authenticity of the videos has not been established.”
Longtime conservative political operative Craig Chandler — who said he operated Smith’s phone bank from his southwest Calgary home since the start of the campaign — said he was fired by the Smith team on Wednesday for appearing and speaking briefly in one of the videos.
Some of the videos, he said, were shot outside his then-southeast home two years ago during a barbecue while he and Denis made jokes about a comedy audiotape depicting a fictional Indigenous radio station called Brocket 99 that many consider racist.
“This was a private function and was taken out of context . . . We were just joking about that comedy routine,” said Chandler, adding another of the widely shared videos wasn’t familiar to him.
“It had nothing to do with the campaign.”
Both he and Denis said the former justice minister never worked on Smith’s campaign as a phone volunteer or in any other role, and also rejected the notion they’re racist.
Chandler said he’s been ejected from the campaign in its closing days by a candidate spooked by a repeat of the 2012 provincial election, in which a lead for Smith’s Wildrose party rapidly evaporated after she didn’t condemn a candidate who’d made remarks about homosexuals burning in a “lake of fire.”
Chandler said this week: “I’ve delivered her (leadership) victory and got thrown under the bus . . . she feels pressure in the last days.
“She’s the one who preached against cancel culture and now is doing it.”
Nonetheless, Chandler predicted Smith will win the leadership vote, to be decided Oct. 6, and said if she does, he’d be happy to help her and the UCP campaign in next spring’s election.
Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt said in a tweet Wednesday: “Maybe Smith has learned something from the lake of fire.”
Maybe Smith has learned something from the Lake of Fire. https://t.co/YUVqEjcnYy
His fellow MRU political scientist Lori Williams said the episode likely won’t have much bearing on the leadership contest because so many voters have already cast ballots.
But it could have an effect on next spring’s provincial election if Smith is chosen as UCP leader and premier.
“The biggest question is, ‘why was Chandler hired in the first place?’ There’s a bigger issue of judgment,” she said.
“How is she going to appeal to the general electorate?”
In a tweet before Smith fired Chandler, leadership rival Brian Jean called on her to do just that, calling the episode repulsive.
“In my first hour as Wildrose leader I was asked to solve a problem that was nowhere as offensive & unacceptable as this is,” he posted.
“I acted — decisively. This isn’t a one-off — three videos and one voicemail. It is horrible intentional racist behaviour.”
In August, following public complaints about offensive phone calls purportedly coming from the Smith campaign, the candidate and former Wildrose party leader denied they came from her volunteers or staff.
Chandler echoed that denial, saying the phone bank, operated by his Progressive Group for Independent Business, wasn’t working at the time of those calls.
The political operative is suing Bratt and MRU for defamation over the academic’s comments about the issue he made in August — legal action that Bratt calls frivolous harassment.
Twitter: @BillKaufmannjrn
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