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The Madu Snafu
139 Plays2 years ago
Oumar Salifou of the Is This For Real podcast joins us to discuss one of the most ridiculous scandals to have hit the UCP during their time in office—Justice Minister Kaycee Madu personally calling up Edmonton's chief of police after getting a $300 ticket for talking on his cell phone in a school zone.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:13
Speaker
Friends and enemies, welcome to the Progress Report. I am your host, Dunkin' Kitty. We're recording today here in Amiskwichiwa Skygun, otherwise known as Edmonton, Alberta, here in Treaty 6 territories on the banks of the Kasiska-Sawaanissippi, or the North Saskatchewan River. Joining us today is Omar Salafu from the Is This For Real podcast. Omar, welcome back to the pod. How are you doing? Thank you for having me, Dunkin'. I'm doing pretty good. How are you fending off the doom these days?
00:00:41
Speaker
Well, I try to forget about it and I try to joke about everything. You know, it's like that meme where it's like, if I don't joke about it, it's gonna, you know, consume me, swallow me whole. Yeah, I don't know. I just, everything's a big joke. Well, it's our lucky day because we have come together today to discuss
Minister Medew's Call: A Scandal Begins
00:00:58
Speaker
What is objectively a pretty funny UCP scandal? We brought Omar in today to discuss Justice Minister Casey Medew and his recent phone call. Well, it wasn't recent actually, it happened back in March, but his recently revealed a fact that he had a phone call with Edmonton Police Chief Dale McPhee just to discuss, you know, racial profiling and police surveillance, you know, just right after he got a $300 ticket for talking on his cell phone in a school zone.
00:01:28
Speaker
Omar, let's get into it. I will, again, I kind of gave the summary of what's going on, but the CBC, really, to start off here, kudos to the CBC, to Elise Fonshiel and Janice Johnson for the reporting on the story, bang up job. Apparently this happened back in March of 2021, but they were able to lock it all down and confirm it and get really just like insane quotes from Chief McPhee and everybody involved. I'm just gonna quote directly from the story here, just to establish what the hell it is that we're talking about.
00:01:57
Speaker
Quote, Alberta Justice Minister Casey Medoo was fined for distracted driving and called Edmonton's police chief to discuss the ticket, CBC News has learned. Medoo was pulled over on March 10, 2021, and fined $300 for being on his cell phone in a school zone, according to the ticket. Soon after, the minister phoned Dale McPhee, the city's chief of police, and discussed the violation with him.
00:02:18
Speaker
Minister Badu did contact me via the telephone concerned about a ticket, but just to be very, very clear, he never asked me to get out of the ticket. McPhee told CBC News in December, adding, he didn't know exactly what was on the ticket.
00:02:34
Speaker
Omar as a quote up high. That's like a pretty good one, right? That is a very, very, very good quote. And I like the use of the word very twice. I feel like that just like really is the icing on the cake here. Like just to be clear, he did call me. I will confirm the fact that the justice minister called me right after getting a ticket, but he, I just want to say.
00:02:55
Speaker
He didn't he didn't want me to squash it hand to God and I mean Kudos to McPhee for for put for actually saying that out loud because of course you say that out loud and that has to be the cool exactly Because it's like oh, yeah like my t-shirt about the like molesting children is answering a lot of questions raised by my shirt like it's like I
00:03:14
Speaker
Yeah, I mean I don't really care or I don't think it's super germane actually whether he asked to squash the ticket or not like the simple fact that the justice minister of Alberta called up the chief of police of Edmonton to discuss a Ticket after he got one is again like really bad and concerning
00:03:32
Speaker
It is very concerning and I think that, you know what, like you said before, it's not this big deal I think that people are making it out to be when it comes to this question of whether or not he tried to get his ticket dismissed. Because I feel like that is a question that comes down to
00:03:54
Speaker
more of the implication in the call and less of whether or not there were actually words spoken that were directly implicating him and saying, I don't want this ticket on me. I want you to remove this. But I think the overarching problem is that, like you said, this is a justice minister calling the chief of police for a personal matter.
Racial Profiling Concerns or Deflection?
00:04:17
Speaker
And the optics, it just stinks. Like the optics are just like very, very, very bad. And optically, the other hilarious part of this is, and one of the reasons why the timing of this is so funny, is that Justice Minister Casey Madu and his ministry are getting rid of traffic court. They're getting rid of your ability to like contest tickets. And let's get into, there's still some more reporting here that I want to read out here. So Madu, who is the UCP MLA for Edmonton Southwest, and I'll just jump in here, the only UCP MLA in Edmonton.
00:04:45
Speaker
paid the ticket before the end of that week, according to court records. The chief said that during the call, Madu, who is black, expressed concern about people of color being stopped by police, and separately, political tension with the Lethbridge Police Service. At the time, the provincial government was preparing to step in after reports of unlawful surveillance and database searches conducted by Lethbridge officers on NDP MLA Shannon Phillips during her time as environment minister.
00:05:09
Speaker
The minister confirmed those details. The officer indicated that he had observed me driving while distracted, alleging that I was on my phone.
00:05:26
Speaker
And we'll get into that statement later. Due to the timing of this incident, I wanted to ensure that I was not being unlawfully surveilled following the controversy surrounding the Lethbridge Police Service. I also raised concerns around profiling of racial minorities that was in the media at the time. Chief McVie assured me that this was definitely not the case and I accepted him at his word. You are shaking your head. Why don't you jump in?
00:06:07
Speaker
current or I guess former yeah no correction there former like downtown Edmonton uh member of parliament who essentially used to be a journalist for the Edmonton Journal and the Edmonton Sun right-wing conservative guy who in the early 2000s wrote critically about the police I'm not sure exactly what his writing was critical of but generally he just wrote a lot of columns that were saying you know we need to deal with this problem whether it be funding whether it be
00:06:09
Speaker
there are so many
00:06:36
Speaker
police policy, we can go into the details maybe after. But the point is that when he was at a bar, he was essentially put into a situation of potential entrapment when he was surveilled by a police officer, followed after leaving the bar with the intention of basically being given a DUI.
00:06:58
Speaker
Um, or like these police officers, like they tried to ring them up on a DUI and they failed and it all ended up coming out in the wash, what they were up to. And honestly, it's like the coolest thing that Kerry Diot has ever done. Exactly. Right. Like this is like, this is kudos to him. And like, I should say this because I probably should have said this earlier, I was sued by Kerry Diot. So I used to, when I was a student journalist at the paper at the U of A, I had, I went through a defamation law. And so when we, we published that he had a statement of making, you know,
00:07:25
Speaker
He had a history of making racist remarks or statements after he posed with a photo. He posed for a photo with Faith Goldie.
00:07:37
Speaker
That makes Kerry Diehl pretty cool. That might be the only cool thing about him, but he's quickly turned on that and he's a big supporter of police. But I think what I do want to say about this idea is that police in Alberta and Canada have been given all the tools, almost all the power and resources and mandate
00:08:00
Speaker
To essentially surveil, follow, detain, you know, yeah, give fines to basically anyone at basically any time. Whether or not that's overt or obvious or whether or not that follows some kind of, I guess,
00:08:17
Speaker
what you may call here a coincidence if you believe the official record, I think is like up in the
Media's Role in Unveiling the Story
00:08:23
Speaker
air. Because if, you know, every time someone, whether it be a politician or a private individual, criticizes police, and then, you know, gets into a situation where they're caught,
00:08:36
Speaker
breaking a crime or they're suspected or alleged of breaking a crime, drawing that direct correlation is going to be a tricky thing to do. And quite honestly, I think more power to you if you want to draw that correlation because you have historical precedent. But I think the underlying thing that we should focus on
00:08:56
Speaker
is the fact that they have that power to begin with and we should maybe question the fact that they can do these things and that should be the focus. Not necessarily these individual cases that are sometimes or mostly obvious where police see someone doing something that they don't like and then like in Lethbridge with the police and the NDP MLA follow them, harass them, surveil them,
00:09:40
Speaker
pull apart the fact that he is like you know a black man and black black man face all sorts of bullshit with cops like as a justice minister like the shit he has done he has undeniably broke up a hundred percent a hundred percent yeah and to think that like he would be targeted because of his work as justice minister
00:09:43
Speaker
You know the drill.
00:09:58
Speaker
It's just very funny because it's so unhinged and it's except for the singular issue of opening up a provincial inquiry into the Lethbridge Police. But other than that, his track record is very clear. His public statements are very clear. He supports the police. He supports funding the police.
00:10:20
Speaker
He does not he he always when the defund the police stuff was happening was saying like, no, like we don't do that. In fact, I might like make it so that it might make it impossible for cities to defund the police or punish police for or punish cities for defunding police like. Yeah. And the other funny part of this is that Casey Madu is calling the cop a liar and saying that the cop racially profiled him. You know, he said that the police officer pulling him over for talking on his phone in a school zone where he's like, no, that's not true. I just had it in my pocket the whole time.
00:10:49
Speaker
and it's like okay man well like i think that's you're gonna get a reaction to just calling a police uh police officer and like you know cops make up shit all the time maybe the airline i don't care but it's it's like in this case i don't care but it's like as the justice minister you call a cop a liar like people are gonna push back and and we'll get into that later in the in the pod with um
00:11:08
Speaker
Michael Elliott statement, but it's it's very funny and then and then this story breaks and Casey me do puts out a statement on social media at 10 30 p.m. Which is always a good side?
00:11:23
Speaker
Posting after work hours. Yeah, always a good sign when you're when you're posting 14 part tweet threads at 10 30 p.m And I'll just quote some of it from it now because again It's quite funny and some of it was was quoted in that CBC article, but it's again. It's worth pulling apart I think Quote many have reached out to me wanting to know the circumstances of the ticket that I received and my subsequent call call to the Edmonton Police Service chief Dale McPhee I've issued a formal statement of the media the premier has also issued a statement on his planned course of action and
00:11:50
Speaker
On the morning of March 10th, I was scheduled to meet with the media at the rotunda of the legislature before question period to address their questions and speak to matters concerning the Lethbridge Police Service. Minutes after leaving my way home on my way to the legislature, I was pulled over by an officer of the EPS. The officer indicated that he had observed me driving while distracted, alleging that I was on my phone. I disagreed, stating that I was not on my phone, as it was in an inside pocket. To be absolutely clear, my phone was inside the left-hand side pocket of my suit, and I was wearing a winter jacket. I identified myself and drove away.
00:12:19
Speaker
Do you know who I am? Later I later I spoke to Chief McPhee to share the experience I had just had and specifically for two reasons first due to the timing of the incident I wanted to ensure that I was not being unlawfully surveilled following the Lethbridge Police Service controversy and in particular given the fact that I was on my way to the legislature on a day that I was meeting with the media to address and Discuss answers around calls for the action to deal with the ongoing issues at the Lethbridge Police Service
00:12:46
Speaker
If I can just jump in here and just say that Casey Matu is a lawyer and I feel like people working in this field, you know, they like to talk about, you know, evidence and they like to talk about, you know, when allegations are made or, you know, we have this, you know, we follow the rule of law, we follow due process, all these kinds of things.
00:13:04
Speaker
These are serious allegations, like very loaded, very serious allegations. There's surveillance of a cabinet minister because he is doing something to cops 500 kilometers away. This is like conspiracy between Lethbridge police and between Edmonton police. This is like, yeah, like surveillance. This is like presupposing that our elected officials are somehow, you know, susceptible to
00:13:32
Speaker
surveillance by the police that are maybe, you know, above them. And like, but all of this is also done in a context where there is no real physical evidence. It's like, he said, she said, like, true. If the cop sticks to his story, like, there's nothing that you can do. And then he paid the ticket. Exactly. So he paid the ticket. So if we're going along the same lines that we would, I guess if this person wasn't Casey Maddie, let's say this is like a general person on the street.
00:14:01
Speaker
you know comes to us and says you know yeah I was followed by the police they stopped me I had my phone in my pocket they said I didn't and it was black dude I would probably believe him you know I'd probably give him the benefit of the doubt I'd probably say yeah that's messed up happens oh I do pretty free out far too often
00:14:19
Speaker
But yeah, this added layer on top of it, this is the problem. The stop itself, I think, is one thing all together. But the context of him literally on his way to announce and speak to media about the Lethbridge Police, this is just icing on cake. And to be clear, he never actually did anything about the Lethbridge Police. He said some vaguely threatening words, and
A History of Blunders: Medew's Public Persona
00:14:44
Speaker
then an action plan was created, and nothing has still happened with the Lethbridge Police.
00:14:48
Speaker
And Shannon Phillips is still trying to get justice for the illegal surveillance and harassment that she faced. Let's get back to the Medoo statement, because again, it's very funny. Second, I also raised concerns around profiling of racial minorities that was in the media at the time and wanted the chief to hear about my own experience. As minister, these were concerns that were constantly being brought to my attention.
00:15:08
Speaker
The reason I was proceeding in the legislature with bill 63 to ban carding, which I tabled for first reading on April 7th, 2021. I wanted to share this personal experience and encounter with the chief of police chief me chief McPhee assured me that this was definitely not the case. And I accepted him at his word. Well, there you go. Yeah. Case closed, right? I guess I thought that I was being surveilled and illegally harassed by cops, but then I asked him and he said, ask
00:15:32
Speaker
But then these are two separate issues, right? Cause is this police officer only acting on this Lethbridge police conspiracy that he's, you know, supposedly created, or is this officer acting solely on the fact that it's Casey Maddow and he's just another random black person? Cause we're just assuming that if the first part or the first accusation that he initially had, it was true that this officer knew what car he was driving or maybe knew where he lived or maybe knew,
00:15:58
Speaker
his face in order to make this plan work if it was related to Lethbridge stuff. But then, yeah, there's the other thing about him just being a black guy and then, you know, yeah, taking the word. Oh, no, it's not racism. Okay, cool. Thanks. Case closed. Yeah, case closed. Back to the statement. I want to be abundantly clear. At no point did I request that the ticket be rescinded. I can assure that in my life I would never do any such thing.
00:16:22
Speaker
That said, with hindsight, now I see how that may be perceived. There is a saying that perception is everything in politics, and I regret raising the issue at all with Chief Fifi. I paid the ticket fully and promptly. In my role as Justice Minister and Solicitor General, I have worked diligently to ensure we build a province in which all of us, no matter the circumstances of our birth, economic, religious, social, or cultural background, can feel respected and welcomed. Just a bunch of like, cop loving stuff at the end. That's about it.
00:16:47
Speaker
Um, so yes, that's Casey Medoo statement again tweeted out at 10 30 pm on the same day that this story broke. Uh, yeah, like just wanted to talk about carding and police profiling. Like, like, let's take a second to talk about that because Casey Medoo's again, the timelines on this aren't really correct because he didn't introduce his carding bill until after this had happened.
00:17:09
Speaker
But what happened to case if he was not carding no, that's driving while black exactly which is Different because police and then no and casey me do has not introduced any legislation to do anything about like the fact that police pretty much have ultimate discretion at any time to pull you over if you're trying to driving a car for any reason reason and so that's just like a definition thing like I have thought about and and and written a lot about carding over the years and just like the Justice Minister being like I
00:17:37
Speaker
Carding, like that's not carding, man. The other thing too, like, the profiling of racial minorities. I mean, you talked about it, right? Again, the thing that is true here is that the black people get pulled over for driving while black all the time. And maybe that's why Casey Medue got pulled over. Maybe. I don't know. I mean, if the cop sticks to his story, there's really no way to fucking know. Yeah.
00:18:06
Speaker
And he paid his ticket anyway. So we're really, I mean, maybe something comes out in the inquiry. We will never know. And yeah, being pulled over while driving a black is like a way that, you know, white supremacy happens and that police kind of like our dicks to black people. But like Casey Medoo had to have it, had to have it happen to him. And then his way of dealing with it wasn't like holding a press conference or, uh, you know, putting in legislation around driving while black or, you know, doing a public awareness campaign. It was calling chief McPhee.
00:18:34
Speaker
It's concerning. So, like, some people publicly defended the fact of the call as, you know, this idea that, you know, if he did have those concerns, which some people might say, you know, were rightful concerns if, you know, we're believing his story over the police officer, which, you know, obviously some black people might be inclined to do,
Tensions with NDP and Conspiracy Theories
00:19:00
Speaker
If we do believe those things, then the call might be justified. The first black justice minister contacting the chief of police. I think fundamentally a reason why it isn't, obviously you mentioned a few, there are a lot more, but I think another reason why is the broken police accountability system in Alberta. If you go through something
00:19:27
Speaker
much more extreme than what Casey Maddie went through, such as a police officer violently attacking you, someone breaking into your house, or doing things like that.
00:19:42
Speaker
you are going to go through a process that is sometimes years on end to actually see justice and requires you to do a lot more than just pick up the phone and call the police chief in order to get personal justification or validation that whatever was done to you was done in good faith or
00:20:02
Speaker
You shouldn't be concerned or you shouldn't be worried about any other things that are happening regarding surveillance or anything like that. So this kind of system where one justice minister can use his power or use his connections to have this conversation on a personal matter that impacts him where he thinks that police are being unaccountable.
00:20:24
Speaker
versus the rest of the public, who I'd argue have gone through many, many, many, many, many worse situations than Casey Maddow. But yeah, don't get the same luxury. Don't get the same privilege that he does to just pick up the phone.
00:20:39
Speaker
So again, is it conceivable that Casey Medew, a British assistant, was pulled over for driving while black? I think that's the thing that is maybe the most likely out of all of this. But everything else that he says is pretty laughable. And the reason why it's easy to dismiss Casey Medew is that he is simply not a credible figure. He has said numerous, just pulled out of his ass incorrect things all the time. Casey Medew is the type of guy who's, the uncle will tell you that he can throw a football over a mountain.
00:21:08
Speaker
Like, there is huge uncle energy coming off of Casey Medew. And it's like, again, we've got the receipts, but like, do you have any like uncle thoughts on Casey Medew? Yeah, no, the uncle threw the football over the mountain while he was finishing his physics PhD and running for president in Nigeria.
00:21:28
Speaker
It's all real and just like yeah a lot of very very ridiculous things and we have like a quote here I think that's just like perfect. Yeah, let me give you the setup for this So it's like this is just an example of Casey Midou saying a ridiculous thing, but it came to light that like some guy Who was sitting on this like judge nominating committee had a history of saying racist sexist anti-semitic conspiracy theory shit
00:21:52
Speaker
And then he resigned, and then there was an exchange between NDP members and Casey Medew in the legislature. And this is what he said. Go ahead. So in the context of the legislature, I'll kind of embellish here. So thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before the House's government motion 24, that was tabled by our premier to deal with precisely with this particular issue.
00:22:15
Speaker
If you look around the world and look at jurisdictions where blacks are having so much difficulty around our world, most of those jurisdictions are controlled by the left-leaning NDP and their allies. As I said, this is not a matter that I am prepared as a black man to allow the NDP to play politics with.
00:22:34
Speaker
And on this one, on this one, I am going to make sure that you guys do not play politics with, of course, blacks. The NDP and their allies, their left-leaning allies around the world are engaged in a worldwide conspiracy to keep blacks down, Omar.
00:22:55
Speaker
Which like if it wasn't under this context that Casey Maddie was speaking of Like his last statement is like yeah play politics with blacks like okay. Yeah, the Democratic Party has definitely Monopolized and like swindled black voters for for years and decades with like very weak neoliberal policy but to like imply this like
00:23:18
Speaker
cross-border conspiracy to imply this so-called, you know, the jurisdictions where blacks have having so much difficulty, you know, this is simply because they're being controlled by Democrats. Common myth. Or like, Emmanuel Macron, like the Labour Party is not in power in the UK. Like, what left leading allies is he even referencing? Yeah, I think maybe this is like Bolivia. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know.
00:23:46
Speaker
I think it's California. I think it's a big uncle energy where he's just like, I'm just going to make up shit. And so after the murder of George Floyd, there was a big Black Lives Matter solidarity reality in Edmonton. And after it happened, it kind of Casey Medew had a public pissing match between himself and the NDP that went on for several days, actually.
00:24:06
Speaker
And Medu asserted, without evidence, he just cut videos and did media hits where he was just saying this, he asserted without evidence that he had been uninvited from speaking at the event because of a conspiracy between NDP and BLM activists. And I don't remember every fucking detail of this stupid story, but he repeated this line about this conspiracy between NDP and BLM activists to keep him away from speaking at this rally over and over and over again, you remember this?
00:24:34
Speaker
I do vividly remember that and I remember how hurt his feelings were publicly about not being invited to this yeah like very clearly left-wing moment um and yeah I think it was very funny to I guess see him
00:24:53
Speaker
I guess it's difficult for a politician like Casey Maru to criticize groups like BLM directly or private citizens who have taken it upon themselves to join groups, make speeches, be involved in what they deem to be important policy change when it comes to racism and policing. So I think for him,
00:25:15
Speaker
the best tactic is to just ascribe this connection to the NDP that really doesn't exist and then just like attack that as you know an excuse to say you know yeah all these people are you know in the same camp they're in a conspiracy with the NDP this is awful they're holding me down as a black man I should be able to speak at the you know black people event
00:25:37
Speaker
Um, which I think also is just like, this is, this is an entire lesson and example of the dangers of treating groups as like monoliths and like understanding, you know, black people as this, you know, singular block of, you know, opinion or thought or,
00:25:56
Speaker
You know, when bad things happen to us, you know, all the leader, everyone has to be, you know, at the table to somehow give their two cents when it's just like, no, this just operates how any other group operates. It's just chaos. And there isn't one unified thing or anything like that. All of it. I think if anything, the unified thing is like power and like the need to like ascend the economic ranks. That is the unifying factor in the black community.
00:26:22
Speaker
And back to Casey Medue saying like stupid uncle shit like there's another one. This is from May 2021. He's posted this on his Facebook. It's it's again very funny. While I hear the anger and disappointment of our people, I will continue to urge calm and patience and cooperation as we near the end of this pandemic. This is back in May 2021.
00:26:45
Speaker
I ask that we don't tear ourselves down and hand over Alberta to the NDP. We have done so before and it did not go well for us. And in my view, we will be making a monumental mistake doing so again because conservatives disagree on the pandemic restrictions response. And then later on, he says,
00:27:03
Speaker
My point is that I don't think it will be responsible to simply wait until we have a disaster on our hands. That's what the NDP, the media, and the federal liberals were looking for and want. We simply couldn't allow that to happen. So again, this is like some Facebook post about the pandemic response. And he says that the NDP, the media, and the federal liberals want assist, like they want field hospitals. They want to run out of ventilators. Like again, he's just like, he's just like talking out of his ass. Like he does this all the time.
00:27:30
Speaker
Yeah, I am no fan of the Alberta NDP or the federal NDP for that matter. But I think this is a great learning lesson for NDP partisans because I think they have a natural and inherent impulse
00:27:47
Speaker
to I guess want to reach over the aisle or like create policy that has this like inherent consensus so that they aren't perceived or actually you know left-wing or do things that you know impact the masses but when you look at the other side of the coin
Pepper Spray Legalization Proposal
00:28:05
Speaker
ucp seemed to think that the left and the ndp are basically devils who want to you know see the world descend into chaos they want the world to descend into chaos and mass hysteria people eating each other so yeah if the ndp ever get into power just like remember what these people that you care so much about and want to emulate their policy actually think of you because so again more kc madhu is not a credible figure shit um
00:28:33
Speaker
So back in 2020 and 2021, there was a rash of attacks against visibly Muslim black women here in Edmonton. And in response to this, Casey Medoo wrote a letter to the federal justice minister asking for not like action on this or a task force or a
00:28:50
Speaker
Committee or a panel or money. He was asking to make pepper spray legal for everyone to carry and use specifically like minority women Incredible Truly incredible. Truly incredible. Yeah, this was his this was his solution to like a series of hate crimes Pepper spray for all that's literally the like Edmonton Sun headline Justice Minister Casey Medoo wants pepper spray for all quite literally. Yeah. Yeah
00:29:17
Speaker
There aren't enough weapons on the street. I guess, yeah, if you consider pepper to a weapon, which, like, you probably should. I wouldn't want to get desert. I wouldn't definitely not want that in my face. Nope. Casey Medoo is also the kind of guy who would go out of his way to get a civil servant fired after being called out by that same civil servant on Twitter. So after this whole this whole rigmarole and event with the NDP and the BLM activists conspiring to keep him away from the event,
00:29:47
Speaker
He got into a Twitter exchange with just like some rando on Twitter with like an anonymous account But Madhu and his press secretary actually managed to track down who this guy was and it wasn't like obvious who he was Like it wasn't in his profile. He didn't say that he was a public servant in Alberta
00:30:03
Speaker
But by hook or by crook, they ended up figuring out that this guy was employed by the government of Alberta, like at the like Alberta surface rights board or something innocuous. And they got him fired for it. And then eventually this was appealed. This went to the labor relations board. And this guy won his case. The arbitrator in the case said that like this guy never should have been fired. It could have just been a minor discipline thing. And that like there was some hilarious shit in that decision. And according to my sources actually,
00:30:32
Speaker
Within government and hilariously like there are because like it's a sinking ship and people will want to talk Like Casey Medoo really sees his job as the like the chief rat hunter like he's the guy who wants to root out like liberals and new Democrats and Lefties and like anyone who harbors any kind of like kind of bad thought he really like is sees it as his job to kind of like dig into it find them get them and
Misuse of Power: The Twitter Incident
00:30:59
Speaker
Either run out or like demoted or whatever right like this is all anecdotal, but I mean we've got this one example with the the the civil servant where he lost the case But okay, that's our like all of our like we just pulled like you literally just google like Casey Medue controversy and like see what comes up It's very funny yeah, but I think another angle on this that I wanted to talk to you about Omar was like the media angle because it's like
00:31:27
Speaker
I mean it's very funny that like Madu was undone here by like someone who I mean I imagine someone must have told the media where to look about where to find the traffic ticket and that and like what happened because Don Bray the scab columnist with the Calgary Herald he was reporting that people in Kenny's in the Premier's office so maybe not Jason Kenny himself he wouldn't go that far but people in Kenny's office knew about this back when it happened
00:31:49
Speaker
And that if that was the case, then lots of people must have known about it. And someone, I mean, my theory, and maybe you can kind of expound on how you think it got to the media. Because again, this happened back in March. It didn't come out until January, which is that someone told the media where to look. I don't think, I think kudos to the CBC for doing all the digging and getting the quotes from Chief McPhee and all that. But I gotta feel that like someone told him where to look.
00:32:19
Speaker
Yeah, I think, I think, I think that's exactly what happened. I feel like CBC, uh, and the reporters, um, in Calgary, Elise van Stolte and at least one shield van shield. Janice Johnston. I butcher that name. Sorry about that. Um,
00:32:35
Speaker
But yeah, I feel like they have good sources inside the government that alerted them that this happened basically when it did. And like you said, I feel like as a reporter, especially at a publication like CBC, you can't write an article without these kind of documents that back them, at least not just on anonymous quotes from government staffers that probably don't even want to be anywhere close to this, because it's a small circle when this information gets spread.
00:33:03
Speaker
they're gonna know who brought it to the media. But yeah, so I think that's exactly what happened. They were told, you know, look here, fwipe this, then you'll probably find what you need to write this story. Which I think is a good thing that, you know, journalism is happening at that level. Yeah, I think it goes both ways because the same author who wrote this story was someone who was big on publishing major stories about
00:33:33
Speaker
Uh, minister Chandra, who used to be, she wrote that puff piece about Shanley. Exactly. That was very embarrassing. That was very, I mean, to be fair to at least one, she'll, she did break the Devin Drishan, uh, was, uh, like an abusive drunk story. She did break, uh, the Tracy Allard story. And again, I feel like this is because she's cultivated sources within the UCP, which is always a balance of like access journalism versus like, cause at some point you got to burn those people,
The Scandal Unfolds: Media and Internal Reactions
00:34:00
Speaker
right?
00:34:00
Speaker
Yeah, or those people are able to are leave I mean one of the reasons why I think at least someone like at least one shill and her kind of like brand of journalism has done well in Alberta is because So many people are leaving And they just like they don't care about pissing off their boss anymore because they're not there anymore. Nope. And so it's a it's a really interesting
00:34:20
Speaker
Like paradigm that we're in here and in kind of like Alberta journalism because like, you know Charles was now Jenny Russell like typically they don't they would never write something like that fucking chandro a Piece that at least fun show wrote never But like but then they probably wouldn't have cultivated those sources in the first place, right? They're depending on other ways to verify their information. So it's always a balance. I definitely lean more towards the like Charles Russell Jenny Russell type of reporting and
00:34:47
Speaker
But like the reason why the stuff that at least when she'll does like is because it's a lot easier And it's a lot less time intensive. I mean, it's not necessarily easier But you're you're doing a lot less like digging through public Documents and like going to the courthouse and like doing a lot of like shoe leather reporting There's a couple final there's a couple of final notes on this before we close up and that is
00:35:09
Speaker
our friend at the Edmonton Police Service, Chief McPhee. One of the reasons, and this is purely speculation on my part, but I feel it's important to bring it up in the context of Chief McPhee's
00:35:22
Speaker
uh... conversation with case you do one of the reasons why chief why case you may have felt comfortable chief mcfee is that back in the summer of twenty twenty uh... chief mcfee attended a ucp fundraiser uh... this was a fundraiser attended by multiple cabinet ministers and even jason tenny uh... one of their feature events of this fundraisers where emily's dress up in t-rex costumes and race against each other in a hundred-meter dash
00:35:51
Speaker
So we confirmed that Chief McPhee attended this event with a friend of his, a guy who runs a business selling ankle bracelets. And we've put in some points to see if there's any type of business relationship there between him and the EPS. Chief McPhee swears up and down that he's not a donor of the UCP, that he's not a member, that he was just there as a guest. But I feel it's a bit of context that's worth adding to this conversation.
00:36:15
Speaker
No, I think that's very useful. And yes, it's hard to find real evidence of, you know, major connections between the chief and the UCP outside of your, you know, good original reporting Duncan on that story. But
00:36:31
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's it's necessary context. I feel like it's important to highlight the fact that this isn't just another relationship. These aren't, you know, two groups that haven't, you know, been in the same circles or at least not, you know, completely removed outside of their job titles, even because, like, obviously, if you're justice minister or if you're the provincial government, you're going to
00:36:52
Speaker
Have a major relationship with the chief of police, but it's like a like a business exactly Yeah, like a professional relationship, but when that relationship extends to political fundraisers With the premier and it's worth and it's worth bringing up here too that chief McPhee comes from he's the deputy minister of like corrections and policing in Saskatchewan and
00:37:14
Speaker
And you do not rise to the position of deputy minister in Saskatchewan without the Saskatchewan party trusting you. Exactly. And the Saskatchewan party is like the right wing government that runs Saskatchewan. And he's brought over former Saskatchewan party staffers to work in his office. Like Chief McPhee's a political animal. He's not a fucking idiot. And we asked him in the most recent police commission meeting if this question, right? Like, do you think Casey Madew
00:37:42
Speaker
felt comfortable calling you because you attended a UCB fundraiser six months prior and he was like, oh, that's a bit of a stretch. But of like, what else is he going to say, right? It's again, it's not the be all end all of this story, but it's just a wrinkle that is worth exploring and talking about. And finally, Omar, I think where we have to close is
00:38:05
Speaker
Something, again, that makes this story funnier and even funnier is the president of the Edmonton Police Association, a staff sergeant, newly promoted staff sergeant, Michael Elliott, going after Casey Madu on Twitter. Yeah, no, this was like all, we didn't have to say anything. This guy said it for us. He had the strongest words for Madu.
00:38:28
Speaker
Yeah, no, no, no, yeah. And this is the backlash to when you call the cop a liar, right? Oh, a hundred percent. This is, yeah, no. So here's the statement from Staff Sergeant Michael Elliott. It's great. Quote, I personally know the member who issued the ticket and to make an erroneous assumption he was surveilling you is shameful and preposterous. Exclamation point. There is a complaint process if you had a legit issue. Calling chief directly is over the line and you know better than that as the minister.
00:38:53
Speaker
The audacity and arrogance is very clear and you are not deserving to be the Minister of Justice, who is supposed to represent all citizens in a fair and impartial manner.
00:39:02
Speaker
This is, this is a shots fired. Yeah. Shots fired. This is a very, very, very strong statement. And I feel like this isn't the first, you know, strong statement we've seen from the president of the police union. And, um, you know, he's come out against the city for the public safety and wellbeing task force or community safety and wellbeing task force. But yeah, I think, um, one thing it's, it's nice to see the right publicly in fighting for once and not the left. Um, and.
00:39:31
Speaker
This adds a wrinkle to the story that I think is interesting because, yeah, like you said before, Mattu is a big supporter of police, but now he is going head to head with, you know, the president of the province's biggest police force.
00:39:49
Speaker
Yeah I just have to say that personally I am very here for this Twitter bun fight and I enjoy it greatly you know let them fight you know yeah the clip from the Godzilla movie I am very pleased to see this happening because again like in almost any other context
00:40:08
Speaker
The head of the Emminton police association the cop union though,
Political Fallout and Inquiry Conclusions
00:40:12
Speaker
let's be real. They're not union isn't a real union and cops aren't workers But the head of the cop union and the president the like ucp conservative the ucp justice minister would almost always be singing from the same fucking song Any fucking issue always and and here they are saying like resigned bitch literally saying
00:40:30
Speaker
yeah and and like like he's like there was no need to go this hard no and he went that hard oh yeah and so like it's very funny so I mean it is I you know the the final piece on this is of course you know
00:40:46
Speaker
This inquiry that Jason Kenney has called into it is going to happen and you know phone logs will presumably be checked and People will be interviewed But ultimately I don't think it really fucking matters what happens with this inquiry I mean, I think Madhu is done as a political figure in this province. He's done
00:41:05
Speaker
Like he simply has no shot at winning an election within the Edmonton city limits. Like he's the only UCB MLA within the Edmonton city limits. There is not going to be any UCB MLA elected within the Edmonton city limits in the next provincial general election. And so, you know, I think Casey Medue should really just like enjoy the next, you know, 15 months, you know, you get paid a lot of money. You get, I mean, right now he doesn't have a lot of status because he's like stepping back as justice minister.
00:41:34
Speaker
You know, there's worse things. You take a vacation, hang out with your kids, go for walks. Like, you know, you're getting like 200 grand a year, whatever you get. Yeah. Enjoy your time. I'm sure you'll be well taken care of. There's lots of opportunities for like former conservative politicians. He's going to be fine. Yeah. And, um, but yeah, like, what's, what's your thoughts? How do you think this, this, this settles out in the end?
00:41:58
Speaker
I think ultimately what we're gonna see is kind of going back to the official statements mostly released by the chief and kind of a vindication of you know any of these concerns but Madhu will probably go back and say you know oh yeah I already knew that these were you know vindicated but you know I made a fumble I was right to you know think these things so you know everything is copacetic it's fine you know but
00:42:21
Speaker
Yeah, like maybe the inquiry will probably say, oh, yeah, he probably shouldn't have called the police. Exactly. That's what's good. That's that's going to be the main finding. I think of the inquiry is just like, don't call the police chief if you are a justice minister and get it. Exactly. And you get a ticket. If you don't have a scheduled meeting to talk about, I don't know, the police act or anything else that you just don't do it.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:42:42
Speaker
If you get a ticket, just don't call the police chief of the force you issued you the ticket. Just simple, simple, simple math.
00:42:48
Speaker
So yeah, I think that's the outcome. And then obviously maybe arguably the bigger outcome is, yeah, Casey Maddow loses, you know, definitively in his seat in Edmonton. And I guess that's the end of like, he'll be around. I mean, he'll be around. Yeah, that's true. You know, these conservative officials are, you know, they're never far from the public. There's always like a job for them or somewhere for them for some soft landing for them to find, to be right. So,
00:43:13
Speaker
Well, I think that's the, like, the conclusion of this kind of hilarious, you know, UCP scandal. One of the funniest to have happened. And, you know, with a lot of scandals on the books, really. Oh, yeah. Omar, we're coming to the end of the podcast. It's time to plug your pluggables. How can people follow along with you and your work?
00:43:31
Speaker
So you can follow my podcast is this for real. We talk about issues of policing issues that impact black people in Edmonton. And yeah, we're on Twitter at is this real CA and yeah, we have also we also have a website as well that you can visit the link.
00:43:47
Speaker
to that in the show notes and also if you're not subscribed to is this for real you should subscribe it's really a podcast but if you like this podcast and you want to join the 500 or so other folks who help keep this little independent media project going there's a really easy way for you to do it if there's a link in the show notes you can also go to the progress report dot ca slash patrons you put in your credit card you become a monthly donor you give whatever you can five ten fifteen dollars a month
00:44:10
Speaker
Jim and I would really appreciate it. Also, if you have any notes, thoughts, comments, things you think I need to hear, I am on Twitter at Duncan Kinney, and you can reach me by email at DuncanK at ProgressAlberta.ca. Thank you to Jim Story for editing this podcast. Thank you to Cosmic FamU Communist for our amazing theme. Thank you for listening, and goodbye.