Was the Alberta Ethics Commissioner’s report on Danielle Smith a ‘late hit’?

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This is just an excerpt from The Ezra Levant Show. To see new, ad-free episodes, which air Monday - Friday @ 8 p.m. ET | 6 p.m. MT, become a subscriber to RebelNews+. This episode originally aired on May 18, 2023.

On last night’s episode of The Ezra Levant Show, Ezra was joined by Western Standard boss Derek Fildebrandt to discuss the Alberta Ethics Commissioner's report. 

Ezra asked Derek for his views on the odd timing of the report:

Look, there's no, getting around it. The ethics commissioner did say that Danielle Smith broke the rules. She had no punishment, no sanction, no advice even on how to fix it. But she did say that. I got a question for you. Is this what they call in campaigning

a ‘late hit’, as in something so close to the election, so dramatic, like a surprise by someone who could have waited a couple of weeks but said, ‘no, no, no, I want this to come up before the election. I want this to come out on election day’...Is that unfair on my part or was this a late hit in the campaign? 

Derek responded:

Well, it is a late hit. was it intentional? I mean, it's certainly weird. I've never seen federally or provincially an ethics commissioner release a negative report during the campaign period. I've just never seen that before. So it definitely leaves open the possibility but at a minimum, the ethics commissioner is sensitive to the allegation of it because in it she recommended that the legislature consider amending the laws around the Conflict of Interest Act so that the Ethics Commissioner could put investigations on hold during a writ period because it's obviously a very hyper-political time, but these are always political things, but it's a very political time. So at the very least, the ethics commissioner is aware of the perception that this is very politically timed. That doesn't necessarily mean that it was done intentionally, but it is extremely strange.

But to be fair though, I mean, if this had dropped a week after the election, the NDP and the media would allege that the ethics commissioner was covering up for the UCP and for Premier Smith. So there's probably no good way to time this kind of thing, one way or another.