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The RCMP say they have found no evidence to justify proceeding with a criminal investigation into NDP Leader Brian Mason's allegations of queue jumping in the province's health care system.

The NDPs asked for the RCMP to investigate after the former boss of Alberta Health Services, Stephen Duckett, spoke at an event at the University of Toronto in May, alleging MLAs helped patients jump the queue.

Mason said at the time, a memo authored by Duckett is enough proof to bring in the Mounties. The 2009 memo, which recently became public, outlaws preferential care.

The RCMP began their review of the complaint on June 13th.

Officers say they conducted interviews with several individuals identified by Mason, including elected officials, front line medical personnel, health system administrators, and members of the public who had forwarded tips to the NDP's information line.

But investigators found no evidence to warrant a criminal investigation.


"Our review of Mr. Mason's complaint has revealed no evidence to justify proceeding with a criminal investigation in this case, which is now closed," said RCMP Assistant Commissioner Marianne Ryan with the RCMP "K" Division.

Mason issued a statement late Wednesday expressing his disappointment in the outcome.

"I'm disappointed by the news that there has not been enough evidence presented to this point to proceed with a criminal investigation into queue jumping. Unless someone steps forward with more specific evidence, we will let the case rest," he stated.

Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky spoke to CTV News by phone saying this "welcome news."

"We ourselves were looking for proof to back up these accusations and we could not find anything either," he said. "I hope it helps restore Albertans trust that was eroded last session when these unfounded accusations were made."

Some critics believe there's a reason there is no evidence here.

"We know it's a bit of a closed loop right, if there were people who were seeking to get medical favours they are not going to talk and the people that administered those procedures are not going to talk either," said David Eggen, executive director, Friends of Medicare.

The Liberals continue to push for a public inquiry. They say an inquiry is still needed when it comes to allegations of government intimidation of health care professionals and financial misconduct.

The province still says the Health Quality Council's review will answer those questions.

With files from Kevin Armstrong