Online publication retracts allegations following cease-and-desist letter from Premier Kenney
Posted June 11, 2021 11:49 am.
Last Updated June 17, 2021 4:33 pm.
EDMONTON – An online publication has completely rolled back a story that alleged Premier Jason Kenney had been secretly flouting lockdown rules.
Last week, the premier said the government’s legal counsel had sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Western Standard, an online news outlet run by former UCP MLA Derek Fidebrandt, demanding a full retraction and apology for the story.
Kenney said the allegations were “completely false and a fabrication from beginning to end.”
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In a tweet, the Western Standard fully retracted and apologized to the premier and added it will “review its editing and publishing policies and procedures.”
A lawyer’s letter sent to the publication, and obtained by 660 NEWS, called the article “pure speculation.”
“The article is nothing more than a sensational political hit piece,” reads the letter from lawyer Steven Dollansky.
Last week, premier Kenney apologized after photos surfaced of him, along with members of the UCP caucus, dining together on a rooftop patio of the so-called Sky Palace in Edmonton.
“There’s no doubt that over the course of the evening people came within the two meters distance that is laid out in the public health guidelines. And I regret that. I regret that perception,” Kenney had said.