The Complaint That Created Chaos and Caused City Credibility to Crumble
Photo credit - Owl News
Corrections were made to the timeline. Originally Published Sept 4 2026
One email. That is all it took to send the City of Medicine Hat into a tailspin.
Background
On September 2, 2025, someone sent a complaint to the City.
The subject line: "Request to remove link to Kelly Allard candidate website." The body referenced defamation and liability.
Within 24 hours, the City removed Allard's link.
Then they removed every candidate's link.
Then they did a jurisdictional scan to justify it but that scan was fatally flawed. The City later admitted it was done under "time constraints."
Then they spent a year refusing to tell Allard what the complaint said.
On September 2, 2026, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner ordered them to release it.
The Owl has obtained the complaint.
The Email That Apparently Caused Chaos at City Hall
September 2, 2025 at 2:46 PM: an email was sent to
the City's election email address,
the City Solicitor,
and the City Clerk.
A third party was cc'd, but their identity is redacted.
The complaint argues that linking to defamatory content could expose the City to liability. It is a legal argument, but it seems to imply that Allard's website contained defamatory content.
The City appears to have taken this as sufficient grounds to act. They acted that very day.
The Questions
Let's think about what this means.
If someone thought Allard's website was defamatory, why wouldn't they just sue her?
Instead, they went to the City and asked them to remove the link.
And the City complied.
This was a link to a website they don't own, don't control, and didn't create.
The City links to all kinds of things.
They feature businesses on their Economic Development page.
They promote local companies as "investment opportunities."
They sell sponsorships to private businesses.
They even link to external resources on their own website.
Are they endorsing those businesses? Are they liable for what they do?
Of course not. That would be absurd.
And yet, when it came to a candidate's website, the City panicked. They removed the link, then they removed every link, then they spent a year hiding the complaint.
The Timeline
September 2, 2025: Complaint sent to the City. Allard's link is removed.
September 3, 2025: Allard goes to City Hall to ask why. Allard makes appointment with Chief Electoral officer for the next day.
Later that afternoon all candidate links were removed and email sent to about 37 candidates (mayoral, councillor, school board) explaining that it had happened.
September 4, 2025: Tarolyn Aaserud, City Clerk at that time, emails Allard 80 minutes before appointment time to tell her it was cancelled.
September 5, 2025: Allard files an ATIA request.
September 23, 2025: City provides heavily redacted records to Allard, refusing to disclose the complaint.
November 11, 2025: Allard requests OIPC review.
September 2, 2026: OIPC orders City to release the complaint.
September 3, 2026: City complies. The Owl obtains the complaint.
What's Missing?
The OIPC upheld the withholding of the complainant's name and email.
We may never know who sent the complaint but we do know what it said, and we know how the City reacted.
The Owl has also obtained another document.
It was sent to Allard seven days before the complaint. That will be published in due time.
The City Clams Up
The Owl submitted a media inquiry yesterday to the City of Medicine Hat. We stated that we have obtained the unredacted complaint sent to the City on September 2, 2025, and that we would like to interview Ben Bullock (City Solicitor) and/or Tarolyn Aaserud (City Clerk at the time).
We gave them a deadline of noon on Friday, September 5 2026.
12:40 PM we submitted the formal request.
1:47 PM Colleen Graham, the City's Director of Corporate Communications, responded:
"We won't be accommodating an interview related to your inquiry."
We offered alternatives: a phone interview, an in-person interview, or a print interview. We said the date was flexible.
Graham responded:
"Thank you for offering alternatives, but we will still politely decline."
The Complaint
From: (Redacted)
Sent: September 2, 2025 2:46pm
To: Election, Ben Bullock, Tarolyn Aaserud
CC: (Redacted)
Subject: Request to remove link to Kelly Allard Candidate website
This email was sent from an external address that is not a CMH account. (Caution inserted)
To all concerned:
Please confirm receipt of this complaint and this request.
If a government site (or other authoritative platform) posts or promotes a link to defamatory content, the risk of liability is higher because courts are likely to treat the act of linking as an endorsement or republication rather than a neutral reference.
(Redacted)
Regards,
(Redacted)
(Redacted)
The Unredacted Complaint Sent to Allard by the City of Medicine Hat Sept 3 2026
