Tory civil war erupts as rejected candidate leaks texts from party.

Clockwise from upper left: PC leader Jim Prentice, Independent MLA candidate Jamie Lall, PC MLA candidate and former justice minister Jonathan Denis, PC executive director Kelley Charlebois.

Calgary Herald

The Progressive Conservative party had their dirty laundry aired a week before the provincial election, with accusations and counter-claims flying among a blocked candidate, the party’s executive director and a former cabinet minister Tuesday.

Texts released by Jamie Lall — who in March was barred by the Tory’s nominating committee from running in Chestermere-Rocky View — suggested the party had been trying to push him out of the nomination race well before then, with then-Justice Minister Jonathan Denis telling Lall that he was “being set up.”

While Lall, now running as an Independent, insisted he was never told by the party why he was disallowed, it was revealed later Tuesday he had been subject to a restraining order from an ex-girlfriend in 2007, which the party says was the reason for his disqualification.

For Tory Leader Jim Prentice — embroiled in a tough fight with the Wildrose Party and NDP ahead of the May 5 election — the issues are an unwanted distraction, but he insisted the party acted properly in all circumstances.

“The nominating committee made the decision that someone with this as part of their history was not appropriate as a candidate for the Progressive Conservative party,” Prentice said in an interview.

“The facts are now clear to people and I think it helps people understand.”

At the end of March, the 30-year-old Lall was blocked by the party from running in Chestermere-Rocky View for undisclosed reasons, leaving former Wildrose MLA Bruce McAllister to be acclaimed in the riding.

In a restraining order from December 2007 obtained by the Herald, Lall’s ex-girlfriend wrote “he has not stopped harassing me since we have broken up and stopped talking in Feb. 2007.”

“He is extremely verbally abusive towards me and my family … the respondent has threatened me and my family and has shown to be aggressive and short-tempered. He is incredibly unstable and I am scared because I have no idea what he wants or will do next,” states the restraining order application.

Lall confirmed the order was put in place, but said he is now close friends with the woman and that she spoke to the PC party’s private investigator about it earlier this year.

“We were young, she embellished it. She explained it all to him,” said Lall, who runs a non-profit agency.

The woman told the Herald she is “diplomatically civil” with Lall and “has no current issues with what has happened in the past.” She would not comment on Lall’s suggestion she had embellished the matter or whether he should be allowed to run.

Lall insists he not only disclosed the order during the party’s vetting process this year, but also when he was appointed the PC candidate in Calgary-Buffalo in 2012, where he lost to Liberal Kent Hehr.

But PC party executive director Kelley Charlebois said the restraining order was at the root of the party’s rejection of Lall in March, asserting that the would-be candidate had not revealed it to the party during its review process.

“He did not disclose anything like this,” Charlebois said in an interview, adding the would-be candidate was told exactly the reasons why he was barred.

“We had a half-hour long conversation. As part of that conversation, I expressed to him my extreme disappointment he had not come clean about this.”

Lall’s rejection came hours after three Wildrose defectors — including Danielle Smith — were defeated in their attempts to win PC party nominations. Lall has raised concerns he was blocked because the party wanted to protect McAllister.

Texts released by Lall indicate he had earlier discussions with the PC executive director about withdrawing from the race.

On Jan. 31, Charlebois texted Lall, saying: “We need to chat … don’t want you in Chestermere.”

In Feb. 17 texts, Lall complained about being undercut, writing that his supporters had been told “a vote for me is a vote against the party.”

“It is dirty … I think it has more to do with the person you are running against then (sic) you,” Charlebois replied.

On Tuesday, Charlebois said the PC party was trying to discourage challenges against all incumbents — not just McAllister — because the spring election was imminent.

Lall also released texts between himself and then justice minister Jonathan Denis, who was his friend.

On March 14, after Lall told Denis that he was being reviewed by a private investigator hired by the party, the cabinet minister urged him to hire a lawyer and not speak to the investigator.

“They’re trying to dq (disqualify) you,” Denis wrote.

Denis — forced to resign this week as justice minister over an unrelated court action with his estranged wife — told Lall that the party’s assertion that it used investigators on all candidates was “BS. BS. BS.”

“Buddy you are being set up,” Denis wrote. “They’re playing you for a dumb kid.”

Denis declined to comment to the media on Tuesday.

Alberta PC leader Jim Prentice speaks during an election campaign stop at The Plains Fabrication manufacturing plant in Calgary on Tuesday.

The bizarre episode reverberated back to the campaign trail on Tuesday, with Wildrose Leader Brian Jean saying Prentice needs to come clean about the Lall situation.

“After 44 years in power, no one should be surprised to hear allegations about a PC party that intentionally undermined one of their volunteers and candidates,” Jean said in a statement.

NDP Leader Rachel Notley declined to comment.

“You know, as fun as that kind of stuff is, I think I’m going to let Jim Prentice focus on the less-than-positive discussions within his party and I’m going to focus more on talking to Albertans.”

Source: Canadian Press