Latest Cabinet Shuffle Accommodates a New Role for Madu

Premier Jason Kenney announced a cabinet shuffle on February 25th, which reintroduced Kaycee Madu to his cabinet. Madu has replaced Tyler Shandro as Minister of Labour and Immigration. Minister Shandro, who also served as Alberta’s Health Minister through much of the COVID-19 pandemic, will now take on the Ministry of Justice and Solicitor General. Minister Sonya Savage continues to hold her Energy portfolio after this most recent shuffle removed her interim-minister designation.  

As you may recall, Madu was asked to step back from his duties as Minister of Justice and Solicitor General in January when an investigation into an apparent conflict of interest was initiated. The impugned actions occurred about a year ago.

In response to a $300 distracted driving ticket, Madu made a prompt phone call to Edmonton’s chief of police. When word got out about this call around ten months later, serious concerns were raised. Premier Kenney expressed disappointment in Madu, while Madu suggested his reasoning for contacting Chief Dale McFee was to confirm that he was not the target of racial profiling and illegal surveillance. Minister Savage took over as acting Justice Minister while the investigation was being conducted.

While Minister Savage was with Justice and Solicitor General, she and Transportation Minister Rajan Sawhney announced that the province would be pausing the implementation of Phase 2 of the SafeRoads initiative.

The announcement of this recent shuffle was made just minutes before the investigation report on Madu was publicly released.  The 15-page report, prepared by former Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Adele Kent, stated that Madu’s reactions were “understandable, given the context of the phone call”. However, she found that Madu had ultimately ignored the appropriate process addressing questions of police conduct. The report contained three (3) conclusions regarding the phone call:  

1)      No interference with the administration of justice was made;

2)      An attempt to interfere with the administration of justice was made; and

3)      A reasonable perception of an interference with the administration of justice was found

Premier Kenney ignored Kent’s second conclusion in his public statement on the report, seemingly downplaying the severity of Madu’s misconduct.  The Premier determined that Madu should not reassume his position as Justice Minister. Nevertheless, Madu was not removed from cabinet altogether, and the question lingers as to whether he should have. The Premier thanked both Madu and Shandro for their work as Minister of Justice and Minister of Labour and Immigration, respectively.

It may come at no surprise that Tyler Shandro has been appointed Minister of Justice. He is the only other experienced lawyer in Premier Kenney’s cabinet. However, some believe Shandro’s acceptance of this role is problematic as he is currently being investigated by the Law Society of Alberta.

Shandro is awaiting a disciplinary hearing before a law society conduct committee where he faces three allegations of professional misconduct. The Law Society of Alberta hearing notice sets out the three allegations he faces:

1.      It is alleged that Tyler Shandro, QC attended the private residence of a member of the public, behaved inappropriately by engaging in conduct that brings the reputation of the profession into disrepute, and that such conduct is deserving of sanction;

2.      It is alleged that Tyler Shandro, QC used his position as Minister of Health to obtain personal cell phone numbers, contacted one or more members of the public outside of regular working hours using that information, and that such conduct is deserving of sanction; and

3.      It is alleged that Tyler Shandro, QC attended the private residence of a member of the public, behaved inappropriately by engaging in conduct that brings the reputation of the profession into disrepute, and that such conduct is deserving of sanction;

 His appointment as Justice Minister puts the Law Society as a statutory body in a difficult position.

The Justice Minister is responsible for the Legal Profession Act which empowers and guides the functions of the Society. If the committee finds Minister Shandro guilty, it could strain the relationship between the Law Society and the Ministry. If the committee exonerates him, on the other hand, the public might attribute it to his influence.