On Wednesday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith threw down the gauntlet, accusing the CBC of defamation and demanding that the corporation retract and apologize for its January 19 report someone on her staff sent emails to the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service challenging how it was handling cases stemming from last year’s highway blockade at Coutts.
Friday, the national broadcaster picked up the gauntlet, publishing an uncompromising statement by Helen Henderson, senior director of journalism and programming at CBC Calgary, standing by the story and vowing “there is much more reporting to be done and stories in the coming days will include further information.”
So I guess there’s nothing for the premier to do but go ahead and sue the CBC and its reporters for defamation, eh? Well, don’t hold, your breath.
But while we wait to see what happens, it seems likely the premier will turn up the dial on her attacks against the CBC and the CBC’s reporting will reveal more about what was happening in the Premier’s Office to influence the way Crown prosecutors were dealing with cases related to the enforcement of public health regulations during the pandemic and protests against those policies.
A CBC report yesterday that quoted Henderson’s statement in full indicated it was drafted to respond to angry comments by supporters of the premier after Smith’s challenge was published.
Henderson’s statement drew attention to Ms. Smith’s 2019 comments about the Globe and Mail report that the Prime Minister’s Office pressured then justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to intervene in a fraud and corruption prosecution of Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. Wilson-Raybould resigned as justice minister and was later expelled from the Liberal Caucus in Ottawa over her conduct in the brouhaha.
“If anything warrants a Mueller committee-style investigation, it’s certainly this,” Smith, still working as the host of a right-wing talk radio show, said at the time – a reference to the 2017-2019 investigation by former FBI director Robert Mueller into allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and President Donald Trump’s reputed involvement.
Henderson also noted that Smith has admitted she contacted Crown prosecutors and then later changed her story.
While the CBC story did not name the sources of its information, Henderson said, “CBC knows the names of the sources, knows where they work, and has carefully assessed the credibility of the information they offered, but agreed not to use their names so as not to put their jobs at risk.”
“Let me emphasize here that we were very careful not only to confirm the bona fides of the sources we spoke with, but to corroborate the information they gave us,” she continued. “It was only after we had spoken with multiple sources and were satisfied with its credibility and authenticity that we published it.”
“We remain committed to reporting this story and all the stories we carry with transparency, balance and impartiality,” her statement concluded.
So it would seem that Premier Smith can bluster and threaten if she likes but that there is not much she can do to prevent the CBC from pursuing the story.
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