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Alberta minister says rules for election contestants are fair

Feb 11, 2019 | 3:15 PM

EDMONTON – Alberta’s minister for democratic renewal says the rules, deadlines and penalties for election contestants are fair, consistent and well communicated.

Christina Gray was responding after Alberta Party Leader Stephen Mandel and five of his candidates were disqualified from running for five years.

They were banned for missing the deadline to file financial details surrounding their nominations.

Gray says the rules are clear and consistent to get what she calls “big money” out of politics.

She says the five-year ban has long been in place for candidates and constituency associations, and that it’s only logical to apply those same rules to nominees.

Mandel says he will go to court to overturn his disqualification on the grounds the rules for the deadline are fuzzy and open to misinterpretation.

He says that in his view he met the deadline with weeks to spare.

United Conservative Leader Jason Kenney says he supports Mandel.

Kenney says a five-year ban for missing a filing deadline is too harsh and unfairly infringes on the rights of voters to cast ballots for the candidates they want.