Thread by @joececiyyc

Wow. A leaked cell phone video has just revealed the true extent of Danielle Smith’s coordinated political interference in the justice system on behalf of those charged following the Coutts blockade.

🧵 1/9 #ableg #abpoli #yyc #yeg

The video appears to capture a Jan 2023 call between Danielle Smith and street pastor Artur Pawlowski, who faces charges of breaching a release order and mischief for inciting people to block public property at the Coutts border crossing in Jan 2022. 🧵 2/

Pawlowski also told a crowd, “For freedom to be preserved, people must be willing to sacrifice their lives. This is our time. If this is our Alamo then so be it.” Prosecutors called Pawlowski’s actions “an overt threat to violence.” 🧵 3/

Pawlowski's background includes multiple legal breaches, repeat run-ins with bylaw officers and City of Calgary officials, and ongoing homophobic campaigns against LGBTQ2S+ Albertans. 🧵 4/

In the leaked video, Smith tells Pawlowski that she is "very sympathetic" to his case and that she has asked the Crown Prosecution Service "almost weekly" if the charges are in the public interest. 🧵 4/

Smith goes on to say, "I have also raised this with the Deputy Minister to let him know my dissatisfaction with the tactics so can you just leave this with me... My Principal Policy Advisor Rob Anderson has been doing most of my work with Justice in pushing this along.”🧵 5/

Let's be clear: Any contact with Crown Prosecutors or the Deputy Attorney General around the direction of individual cases in the justice system is political interference, plain and simple. 🧵 6/

And the fact that Pawlowski, who is accused of encouraging violence against police, can get the Premier on the phone at all is extraordinary. 🧵 7/

On January 17, @MLAIrfanSabir wrote to Attorney General Tyler Shandro and called for him to launch an independent investigation similar to the one conducted by Justice Adèle Kent into the behaviour of Kaycee Madu. He never received a reply from Tyler Shandro. 🧵 8/

As Sabir says, “Smith lied to Albertans when she said she had never contacted prosecutors, and when she said no one in her office had contacted prosecutors. She is unfit to be Premier." 🧵 9/9