Podcaster David Wallace, centre, is accused of being part of an intimidation campaign against a former director at Alberta’s health authority.Amber Bracken/The Globe and Mail
Two podcasters who allegedly harassed a former director at Alberta’s health authority are asking a judge to overturn an extraordinary court order that resulted in their computer and cellphone devices being searched.
Sandy Edmonstone, a former member of the board at Alberta Health Services, obtained the court order in November. It authorized the search of the electronic devices of the two podcasters, David Wallace and James Di Fiore, who, he alleged, were part of an intimidation campaign against him.
The two podcasters’ lawyer, Craig Alcock, argued in a court brief that their verbal attacks and boasts about digging into Mr. Edmonstone’s private life shouldn’t be taken at face value. The brief argues that remarks from the podcasts are hearsay and not admissible.
It says Mr. Edmonstone was wrong to be “relying on comments from the Respondents’ podcasts for the truth of their contents, rather than for the simple fact that those statements were made.”
Mr. Alcock says in his brief that his clients’ freedom of speech as “business podcast journalists” was infringed upon by Mr. Edmonstone’s court actions.
In the court submission, filed March 11, Mr. Alcock contends that Mr. Edmonstone provided no evidence that the pair conducted surveillance on him.
In his podcasts, Mr. Wallace had asserted that he would disseminate incriminating information about Mr. Edmonstone and warned that “we’re really going to start digging down and we’re going to make it unbearable for you.”
Instead of searching the podcasters’ devices, Mr. Alcock’s court filing said Mr. Edmonstone should have sued them for defamation and used a less-intrusive legal mechanism to gather evidence about them.
The controversy began in early 2025, when the former head of Alberta Health Services, Athana Mentzelopoulos, alleged in a wrongful-dismissal suit that she had been fired by the government of Premier Danielle Smith after she declined to wind up an internal investigation into the way AHS awarded contracts to private vendors.
Mr. Edmonstone said in a court affidavit that he was harassed because he was vocal in his support of Ms. Mentzelopoulos and had urged her to speak to the RCMP and the provincial Auditor-General. The entire AHS board was dismissed at the end of January by the Smith government.
Last November, Mr. Edmonstone turned to Alberta King’s Bench Justice Michael Lema, the judge managing the Mentzelopoulos lawsuit. He persuaded Justice Lema to grant him a court order allowing independent solicitors to search the electronic records of Mr. Wallace and Mr. Di Fiore, in a bid to identify who could have directed them.
Justice Lema also cited the two podcasters for contempt of court because Mr. Edmonstone is a potential witness in Ms. Mentzelopoulos’s litigation.
The judge issued the citation for contempt and the search authorization, known as an Anton Piller order, after an ex parte hearing, meaning it happened without the knowledge of the podcasters.
“While undoubtedly the contents of the posts and podcasts are unpleasant in the opinion of Mr. Edmonstone, they do not cause threat of immediate harm, they are not immediately prejudicial, and as such they do not warrant the need for an ex parte application or order,” Mr. Alcock’s brief said. The document asks Justice Lema to nullify the orders he issued in November.
Mr. Edmonstone’s affidavit said he became aware in June, 2025, that he was being followed when someone covertly photographed him, while he lunched with a woman, and disseminated the pictures, falsely accusing him of adultery.
The affidavit said that Mr. Edmonstone discovered that the cellphone that shared photos of him was the contact number for an anonymous X account that had posted similar surveillance shots of Globe and Mail reporter Carrie Tait and threatened to expose her sources.
Meanwhile, Mr. Wallace, a self-described “political hitman,” used podcasts to direct reputational attacks at Mr. Edmonstone, Ms. Mentzelopoulos and Ms. Tait.
Mr. Alcock’s brief noted that Mr. Edmonstone never came in physical contact with the podcasters, and didn’t waver in his willingness to appear as a witness.
“The Respondents’ conduct through their podcasts have caused no disruption with the administration of justice,” the brief said.
The document underlined that Mr. Edmonstone had no evidence that the podcasters operated the anonymous X account or that they had really hired people to follow him.
The document doesn’t explain why Mr. Wallace took an interest in Mr. Edmonstone’s private life. Mr. Wallace has said on podcasts that he had employers and “I’m indemnified and empowered to go after everybody I want to.”
The brief noted that, instead of seizing records directly from the two men, Mr. Edmonstone could have applied for a Norwich order, a court injunction compelling third parties such as banks or internet providers to disclose private information.
During the search of Mr. Wallace’s devices, he initially refused to co-operate by saying that he was working on a retainer for an Edmonton-area lawyer, Bryan Ward.
Public records show that Mr. Ward has in the past represented Sam Mraiche, the owner of one of AHS’s suppliers, the MHCare Medical company – and one of the contractors that was the focus of the probe ordered by Ms. Mentzelopoulos.
Ms. Mentzelopoulos’s lawyer, Brett Code, said in a letter to Justice Lema last month that his client had been similarly harassed and is considering joining Mr. Edmonstone’s court application “against the internet trolls, Messrs. Wallace and Di Fiore.”