Day 12
Note: I am a poor note-taker and these summaries will contain errors and omissions which will reflect my limitations. My intention is to report on the facts as accurately as possible although a subconscious bias may creep in. I can only provide glimpses into what I see as relevant and interesting events. My goal is to capture the essence of the day’s events rather than be comprehensive.
Read the reference documents: The Legal Case and Events Leading to Trial to obtain an understanding of the case and its history. Names and terms are abbreviated and defined in Glossary.
Direct Examination of Janice Herrington
By Caylan’s Counsel, Richard Harrison
In 2019, Ms. Herrington was the Executive Director of the UCP, a position she had held since the Party’s formation in 2017.
She testified on behalf of the Plaintiff, Caylan.
Mr. Kenney asked Ms. Herrington to manage the UCP when it was formed.
She first met Caylan at a political event and was impressed by her.
At the time, Caylan was a candidate in the Mountainview nomination contest.
Caylan told Ms. Herrington about difficulties she was experiencing because Jivraj, as president of the Constituency Association, was attempting to prevent her from becoming the candidate.
The “fraudulent resident” letter, written by Jivraj and signed by nine directors, accused Caylan of misrepresenting herself and committing deliberate fraud to become a nomination candidate.
Jivraj had “leaked” the letter to Press Progress and had also purchased Caylan’s domain name.
Press Progress published the letter.
Caylan filed a formal complaint with the UCP and requested an investigation.
Ms. Herrington investigated and asked Jivraj to respond to the complaint.
Jivraj did not provide a reasonable response; his reply was aggressive and litigious.
The investigation concluded that Caylan was a legitimate candidate.
Caylan had been thoroughly vetted by the Party before her application was approved.
The Constituency Association Board, under Jivraj’s presidency, was not proceeding with the nomination process.
Hlady was also a candidate for the nomination.
Ms. Herrington discouraged Hlady from running because she personally knew he had engaged in inappropriate sexual behaviour when he had been an MLA.
Press Progress published the damaging and defamatory article about Caylan on March 18, and Caylan resigned.
After resigning, Caylan told Ms. Herrington that the quotes in the Press Progress article had been taken out of context.
Direct Examination of Sadiq Valliani
Witness for the Plaintiff
Mr. Valliani has extensive political experience at local, provincial, and federal levels. He provides high‑level managerial and consulting services, including war‑room operations, and owns a voter‑survey company.
Caylan and Her Campaign
Mr. Valliani met Caylan at a UCP function in 2017. He described her as brilliant, knowledgeable, passionate about public service; the right person for the right reasons. He believed she would have a successful political career.
He volunteered on her campaign and became the manager responsible for every aspect of her nomination campaign.
Caylan had her own style and views; when door‑knocking, she often spent 10–20 minutes speaking with voters and could discuss a wide range of topics knowledgeably.
She worked extraordinarily hard; she was nursing her baby and scheduled door‑knocking around breastfeeding.
She faced two very capable opponents in the nomination contest.
Caylan won the nomination by a large margin.
About Jivraj
Caylan told Mr. Valliani she had experienced “weird interactions” with Jivraj and feared he would interfere in her campaign.
Jivraj had purchased her campaign domain name, forcing her into a dispute‑resolution process to recover it.
Mr. Valliani had prior experience with Jivraj:
As chair of the nomination committee in Calgary‑Centre, he was approached by Jivraj, who sought his help to become the chosen candidate.
Mr. Valliani, a neutral chairman, refused; Jivraj became angry and aggressive.
Mr. Valliani stated that “weird things happened around Jivraj”; at one point, Jivraj threatened to sue him.
Projecting Election Results
Working with a data‑collection company, Mr. Valliani’s firm developed a sophisticated system for analyzing voter intentions.
The campaign had lists of all Party members in the riding.
The data‑collection company conducted repeated phone and text surveys and provided the results to Mr. Valliani’s firm.
His firm combined that data with information collected by door‑knockers and entered everything into spreadsheets
Reliable election results could be predicted from the spreadsheets.
The system is used for both nomination contests and elections; similar systems are used by all competent political campaigns.
Each Party member or voter was surveyed multiple times; 15,000–20,000 calls were made during Caylan’s nomination contest.
The process cost tens of thousands of dollars but was highly accurate.
The system’s prediction for the nomination contest was within 3% of the actual result.
The same surveys were conducted for the general election after Caylan’s nomination.
The system predicted that Caylan would likely win the Mountainview riding.
Events of March 18
Late on March 18, Caylan called Mr. Valliani seeking help and advice.
He was managing three other campaigns but immediately drove to Caylan’s campaign HQ.
Caylan showed him the emails from Mr. Lebrun at Press Progress (Tab TB1000144), [click HERE to view].
They both knew Jivraj had planted the story and that Press Progress would publish it regardless.
Because Caylan did not have her copies of the Facebook messages with Jivraj, she could neither confirm nor deny the quotes attributed to her.
In a state of anxiety, they contacted other candidates and Party officials.
Press Progress published the article only 2–3 hours after Caylan received the Lebrun emails.
Caylan was called by two different CBC journalists asking for comment and posing loaded questions.
Mr. Valliani reviewed the personal social‑media accounts of the two CBC journalists and saw posts showing bias against Caylan.
CBC invited her to be a guest and be interviewed on the Eye Opener program the next morning.
Caylan and Mr. Valliani knew the interview would be an ambush, not a genuine interview.
Mr. Valliani advised Caylan not to respond to the loaded questions and not to appear on the Eye Opener.
Caylan did not respond and she did not appear.
The UCP offered Caylan the chance to resign, and she wrote a resignation letter.
Mr. Valliani posted the resignation letter on the campaign website.
Effect on Caylan
After writing her resignation letter, Caylan was quiet, solemn, sad, deeply hurt, but stoic.
Over time, she became deeply depressed; she was a “broken shell,” afraid of being recognized, and stopped going out. People went out of their way to hurt her.
Mr. Valliani recognized her hurt and depression and called her every night for about 18 months.
Even after her resignation, Jivraj continued to pursue her, attempting to further damage her life.
Calgary Classical Academy (“the School”)
In 2021, while Mr. Valliani was working in Ottawa, Caylan called him and said she wanted to start a charter school and needed his help.
He returned to Calgary.
When the School opened, he became CFO and secretary‑treasurer.
Cross‑Examination of Mr. Valliani by Mr. Mack, Counsel for the Broadbent Institute and the Defendants Magusiak and Lebrun
He confirmed he was not a professional pollster.
He conducted voter surveys, which differ from polls.
Data was collected from 4,615 people who answered the phone; every number on the voter list was called 2–3 times.
The data‑collection company made the calls and provided the results to his firm.
His firm combined that data with door‑knocking data to predict outcomes.
His firm received about $5,000 for the survey; the data‑collection company received about $20,000.
He understood that both candidates opposing Caylan in the election were strong.
Next Witness: Chad Hallman (“Chad”)
Richard conducted the direct examination of Chad, who testified on behalf of Caylan.
Chad has worked in politics for a decade in both junior and senior roles, including in Premier Kenney’s office as a special advisor and later as a ministerial assistant.
Experience with Jivraj
Chad met Jivraj in 2015 at Conservative Party functions in Toronto.
In 2017, he saw Jivraj at a Calgary BBQ; Jivraj said he had moved to Calgary to enter federal politics.
Chad later recruited him as a volunteer in a municipal campaign.
Jivraj was unreliable; on one occasion he was late and inebriated. Chad stopped asking him to volunteer.
Chad knew of Jivraj’s sordid political activity in Toronto and that he had been effectively black‑listed in Ontario politics.
Jivraj demonstrated strange behaviour and abused alcohol.
Experience with Caylan
Chad met Caylan in 2018 and was tremendously impressed with her.
He believed she could positively change the UCP’s image.
He volunteered during her nomination campaign and became very active after she was nominated.
He became aware of derogatory posts about Caylan made by Jivraj.
He confronted Jivraj, told him he knew about his deceit and treachery, and told him to leave town.
After March 18
It was common for campaign volunteers and unsuccessful candidates to be hired by a new government, sometimes in senior roles.
The UCP did not communicate with Caylan after her resignation.
The Party wanted no association with her, and political staff understood they must not associate with her.
Chad “liked” an online post by Caylan.
He was severely reprimanded by a senior Party member and told his career could be threatened.
Chad appeared in Caylan’s documentary When The Mob Came but later asked to be removed due to concerns about his political career.
Nobody in the UCP believed Caylan was a white supremacist, but Party politics made any association with her impossible.
Court adjourned.
Comment
· Mr. Valliani’s system for analyzing voter intentions and projecting election results was highly accurate.
· The system projected a likely win for Caylan prior to March 18.
· Caylan suffered deep and acute depression after her resignation.
· The UCP completely disassociated from Caylan after her resignation.