On Friday, Globe and Mail journalist Carrie Tait and four of her colleagues received a National Newspaper Award for their work exposing dodgy health-care contracts tied to Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government.
Ms. Tait, who works out of the newspaper’s Alberta bureau in Calgary, and reporters Alanna Smith, Tom Cardoso, Mark MacKinnon, and Stephanie Chambers have kept the scandal on the front burner for months, for which they deserve the thanks of Albertans and have felt the seething wrath of the UCP, which is desperate to make voters forget about the goings on they have uncovered.
In a move that must have really stuck in the craw of Premier Danielle Smith and her closest advisors, the NNA judges also named Ms. Tait Journalist of the Year “for her tenacious, ongoing coverage of Alberta’s politically charged health care controversy amid a climate of intimidation and threats.”
Remember, while the newspaper industry may not be quite what it used to be, the NNAs are still prestigious awards for Canadian journalists, bestowing justified additional credibility on the Globe’s series of significant scoops that the UCP would really like to pass off, Trump style, as a witch hunt.
And given what Ms. Tait in particular had to put up with to get the stories, the judges’ description is really rather mild. “Throughout 2025, Tait was subjected to a sustained campaign of intimidation designed to silence her work,” the NNA judges wrote in a special section on the Journalist of the Year Award. “This included a high‑profile lawsuit launched by the premier’s former chief of staff, as well as stalking, surveillance, and harassment.”
“Tait did not retreat,” the NNA said in its press release Friday. “She continued to report with discipline, precision, and restraint, navigating personal risk with a professionalism that has inspired colleagues across the profession.”
This is fair and accurate, although it is worth remembering that the Smith Government and its sympathizers and operatives, identified and otherwise, have had more success similarly intimidating journalists in Alberta, including commercial news organizations that could have pushed back and independent journalists without the deep pockets and legal resources of The Globe and Mail.
For that reason, I would say that the metaphorical jury remains out on another statement by the NNA judges. To wit, that Ms. Tait’s reporting “altered the province’s political landscape, triggering real consequences and forcing accountability at the highest levels of government.”
We’ll see about that. Unfortunately, it’s well within the realm of possibility that there will be no consequences at all for the UCP.
Indeed, until the NNA announcement Friday, the harassment campaign on social media waged last summer against Ms. Tait by a person or persons as yet unidentified but obviously in support of the UCP had largely faded from the public’s memory.
Surreptitiously taken photos of Ms. Tait talking to two former government staffers were published on an anonymous social media account ginned up to look like an unrelated account that had broken significant stories about the UCP government, and scathing comments poured in from UCP supporters infuriated by the reporter’s coverage of the allegations made in a lawsuit by former Alberta Health Services CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos.
The whole thing looked and sounded very much like a coordinated and well-organized campaign. In its July 21 report on the harassment, the Globe said the posts included details of events Ms. Tait had attended, a prescription she’d picked up at a pharmacy, and a threat to “start exposing Carrie Tait’s sources.”
About the same time, someone also “disguised a phone number to look like Ms. Tait’s phone number” and made numerous calls.
Soon after, Premier Smith said, “No one should be harassing anybody, and I don’t comment on sock puppet accounts. I have no idea who’s behind it.”
Earlier this month, Ms. Tait was insulted from the floor of the Alberta Legislature by Government House Leader Joseph Schow, who was complaining about members of the Opposition NDP relying on her news stories during Question Period.
“Listen, Mr. Speaker, I will take Carrie Tait’s writings as seriously as I take dietary advice from Jabba the Hutt,” huffed Mr. Schow, who is also the UCP minister of jobs and stuff, in an example of what apparently passes for high wit in UCP circles.
Carrie Tait and even Emma Graney are a rare thing in the media these days. It’s a very stark contrast between them and Postmedia columnists, who are just UCP spokespersons. The fallout from the UCP’s MH Care (Corrupt Care) scandal, which has a cost of over half a billion dollars, isn’t over yet, no matter how much Danielle Smith and the UCP wants to bury it from the public. Carrie Tait and Emma Graney will be very well praised exposing the rot and corruption in the UCP.
To be fair, Ms. Graney at least, got her start in Canada with Postmedia. I am sure there are still some journalists working for Postmedia who would do better work working for a better organization. They days when there were lots of good union jobs in media are long gone, alas. DJC
Carrie and Emma are outstanding human beings and brilliant, dedicated professionals, David you should be proud to be in such company. Smith and her team are liars, Trump wannabes -how much lower…
This is a good news story. Carrie Tait’s bravery and persistence have exposed the UCP’s corruption. Hopefully this spurs the RCMP to do something other than run out the clock. It would be great if charges were laid before Marlaina’s rigged election.
There can be high wit – but given by nitwits or half-wits?
MtD: To answer your question … not so much. DJC
Witch hunt? Only if you’re a witch. BTW, nice Golden Cat™ series necklace and Kristi Noem™ outfit, premier.
Congratulations and thank you to Carrie Tait, Alanna Smith, Tom Cardoso, Mark MacKinnon, Stephanie Chambers and the Globe and Mail for exposing the inner workings of the UCP in Alberta.
As for Mr. Schow, it’s interesting that the gangster slug Jabba the Hut was on his mind. Let’s remember what happened to old Jabba.
“Jabba the Hutt was one of the galaxy’s most powerful gangsters, with far-reaching influence in both politics and the criminal underworld. There were no second chances with Jabba, something Han Solo would find out — though the slug-like alien would ultimately fall victim to his own hubris and vengeful ways.”
https://www.starwars.com/databank/jabba-the-hutt
CTV News Calgary published a story today, April 26, 2026 about a website created by a man in Strathmore.
The website he created is called albertareferendumb2026.ca.
The albertareferendumb2026.ca website pretty much cuts to the chase of Danielle Smith’s obsession with power and the UCP caucus’s blind, wimpy obedience to her.
I didn’t see this story on CTV News Edmonton.
Well congrazzies Carrie Tait & Co. for relentlessly chasing down the story.
Sadly, at this point, it’s just entertainment news until there’s a full investigation, charges and convictions with someone, or several someones, spending their vacay parked in a jail cell taking online correspondence courses for entertainment.
It shouldn’t be up to journos to do criminal investigations but alas and alack that seems to be the corporatist world we’ve landed in. Welcome to Rollerball 2026.
My hat is off to Carrie Tait and her colleagues. It’s Journalists like Tait and others, that are still on the side of truth and good journalism, that we owe a debt to. Congratulations on the win!
With respect to the RCMP, I see it as a do not bite the hand that feeds you situation so they have really never taken any corrupt politicians to task for fear their contract would be terminated. Given Dingy Smith is bound and determined to kick them out, it stands to reason they should be investigating more seriously and bringing forth charges against the corrupt ones.
Credible journalists who place integrity over access to the powerful are a rare thing these days. Watching the unfolding weirdness in the US reminds one of how broken the US is at this time. Some kind of incident during an event where Mango Mussolini banned comedians, and the dinner was more lacking than in previous years, has left commentators questioning if a presidential assassination attempt was staged or not. The problem this time is that the would be assassin was captured alive. If this was supposed to be a Reichstag fire moment, it was hopelessly botched by the most incompetent administration in recent memory. Hell, even W’s administration wasn’t this screwed up. Iran must be falling on their arses laughing, while Bibi Netanyahu must be wondering why he counted on Trump to get anything right. But the one thing that was troubling was all the representatives of the various US media outlets have unquestioningly fawned over Trump’s heroic posturing in the aftermath of the incident. Since all of America has gone nuts, everyone now believes that Trump’s ballroom maybe a good idea after all. All this slavish adoration of Trump just points how much some journalists are will to do to save their phony-baloney careers.