Corruption & Local Government

Millions of dollars’ worth of gravel has left the municipal pit of this small Alberta village — but the money is nowhere to be found, and taxes keep climbing.

In the mountain community of Crowsnest Pass, Alberta, one family’s call for accountability has exposed what residents describe as a troubling mix of environmental neglect, questionable land dealings, and taxpayer-funded retaliation.

This is the story of a rural Alberta community left to confront a rogue council—and a province that, residents say, looks the other way.

Government records show that when the board Satpal Singh Parhar once chaired announced him as Alberta’s first Chief of Police on July 2, no code of conduct was in force to prevent a conflict of interest in appointing its own former chairman.

An advertisement from a federally licensed immigration consultant suggesting that foreign police officers from any country could immigrate to Alberta to police Albertans has sparked public outrage.

Danielle Smith’s government silently went along with the fact that the Independent Agency Police Service Oversight Board, tasked with finding the most qualified Albertan to lead the new provincial police force, chose its own chairman, Satpal Singh Parhar, for the job.