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Email response raises further questions

But one Calgary woman cited a separate instance of Shandro’s behavior as proof the health minister isn’t sufficiently disconnected from the business.

Janice Fraser said she was threatened by Shandro over email after she reached out to Vital Partners Inc. through the company’s online “contact us” webpage on March 20. Fraser said she asserted her belief that Shandro was engaged in a conflict of interest in her message to the company.

Within an hour, she said Shandro responded from his own email address.

“Sending threatening emails to my wife is completely inappropriate and must stop,” said Shandro in the email, which was obtained by Postmedia.

“If you want to believe lies about her on social media, that’s up to you. But you can send your threatening emails to this office and this office only. Email her again and it will be referred to protective services.”

Fraser, who worked as a constituency assistant for NDP and Liberal MLAs from 2015 until last year, said she felt “threatened” by Shandro’s response.

“The fact that a minister of the Crown, in a pandemic … would have time to respond to me about his wife within less than an hour really caused me to feel very afraid for my safety,” she said.

Fraser said she has contacted Alberta’s ethics commissioner about the email exchange.

“His behaviour proves what we’re all saying, that he is actually not neutral, he is not unbiased,” she said.

“He has taken an oath to protect the Crown in this province and to work for all Albertans. At this point, he’s only working for his own assets and his own wife.”