A former United Conservative Party leadership campaign manager has been levied $15,000 in fines for allegedly obstructing an investigation by the elections commissioner.
Two $7,500 fines were issued on Tuesday against Cameron Davies, who co-managed Jeff Callaway’s leadership campaign in 2017.
The fines were issued by the Office of the Elections Commissioner as a result of two violations of Section 45 of the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act. The section mandates no one should hide or destroy documents relevant to an investigation.
In January, CTV News obtained letters signed by Election Commissioner Lorne Gibson, which asked recipients to report if they had been discouraged from participating in an investigation into “irregular financial contributions” made to Callaway’s 2017 campaign.
A lawyer for Davies said he planned to appeal the commissioner’s decision to the Court of Queen’s Bench.
“We take issue with the findings of the Commissioner,” Dale Fedorchuk, of the Guardian Law Group, told CTV News in a statement.
He said the violations were not based on a hearing and that the public should not draw conclusions before the matter is heard by a court.
“Mr. Davies specifically denies the allegations brought against him and will vigorously defend this matter going forward.”
In October 2017, Callaway pulled out of the UCP leadership contest and threw his support behind the future winner and current UCP Leader, Jason Kenney. Later, Callaway denied any collaboration between his campaign and Kenney’s, despite allegations from former party members that he was working to derail other leadership candidate campaigns in a bid to help Kenney.
In January, the UCP denied any involvement in the accusations.
Davies had been contracted by the UCP Caucus starting Nov. 13 to provide policy briefing notes and research. According to the caucus, at the time of the January reports, he told the party he was not the subject of any investigation.
The UCP said Davies' contract was terminated when it was notified of the penalties levied by the elections commissioner.
The party also told CTV News it has not been contacted by the elections commissioner.