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Alberta is at the brink of a pivotal election set to be held sometime in April or May. The brand-new United Conservative Party, led by former federal minister Jason Kenney, will square off with the NDP and Premier Rachel Notley. The UCP is way ahead in early polls.

But the UCP has been recently plagued by allegations surrounding Kenny’s campaign to become leader of the party in 2017. They involve dark money accusations, a “kamikaze mission,” and alleged voter fraud. There’s at least one investigation ongoing.

Allegedly, Kenney used another candidate, Jeff Callaway, as a “kamikaze” to attack his biggest opponent in the UCP leadership race, Brian Jean. Jean led the Wildrose Party and Kenney led the PCs before the two entities formed the UCP to “unite the right” in Alberta.

The alleged move was to have Callaway undermine Jean, allowing Kenney to stay above the mud slinging. Also, serious allegations were levelled in December 2018 when some suggested that individual donors made contributions to Callaway with money that wasn’t theirs. This is illegal.

Kenney won the leadership race decisively after Callaway dropped out and backed him. Jean later left politics. But then two complaints were sent to the elections watchdog in Alberta, one anonymously on Nov. 30 and another by a former UCP MLA on Jan. 3.

The election commissioner reported he was probing “irregular financial contributions” to the Callaway campaign in a leaked letter on Jan. 24. Then, on Feb. 26, a former co-campaign manager for Callaway was slapped with $15,000 in fines from the election commissioner for “obstruction of an investigation.” He’s appealing them. Two days later, Feb. 28, a donor for Callaway was then hit with a $3,500 fine from the commissioner for a contribution of the same amount that wasn’t hers — an offence under election legislation.

Then, the UCP removed a candidate in a Calgary riding for not being “forthright” about his $4,000 contribution to Callaway. They said “new information” came up and that they passed it along to the commissioner. However, they say they don’t allege anything nefarious happened.

Kenney’s alleged to have played a role in organizing and funding this “kamikaze mission.” Two complaints filed with the commissioner question allegedly suspicious donations of 18 donors to Callaway’s campaign. There’s suggestions a political action committee funneled money.

This all paints an unclear picture of a very complicated story. One reason being the commissioner is bound by legislation not to talk publicly about investigations. We’ve had to rely on leaks and sources close to the alleged affair for information.

The UCP and Kenney deny the allegations that he organized or funded a “kamikaze mission” in the 2017 leadership race.

There’s more. Separate allegations in a letter sent from former UCP MLA Prab Gill to the RCMP suggest there was mass voter fraud carried out by Kenney’s team in 2017. It’s unclear if the Mounties are investigating and the allegations are unconfirmed.

In fact, Kenney had his lawyers send a cease-and-desist letter to Gill regarding his statements about this. Gill, now a sitting independent MLA, did not abide by the requests of the lawyers and recently said he spoke with RCMP for close to four hours.

Things have gotten a bit … weird, too, between Gill and the UCP. Gill, says he will be contacting the sergeant-at-arms and the office of the Speaker over a video shot of him by United Conservative staff that was posted on social media.

Read more about the investigation into the UCP’s “kamikaze mission”

Former UCP board member says he was bullied for helping investigation into ‘kamikaze’ campaign

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What we know so far: Timeline of the United Conservative ‘kamikaze campaign’ investigation

United Conservatives remove Calgary candidate who was not ‘forthright’ about donations to alleged kamikaze campaign

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