Alberta’s Election Commissioner has cracked down on a pro-Canada advocacy group after speakers at some of its events took sides on the province’s separation referendum question.
Forever Canadian, led by former Alberta deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk, registered as a Referendum Third Party Advertiser under Alberta’s Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act on June 8.
For months, the group maintained that its rallies, Unity Bus tour and other events were about Canadian unity generally, rather than telling Albertans how to vote.
According to the Sept. 29 compliance agreement, those events were initially “general in nature” and did not constitute referendum advertising because promoting or opposing a referendum question was not a significant purpose.
But the Election Commissioner says that changed.
“More recently, at some of these events, the Election Commissioner identified occasions where a speaker made specific reference to the referendum question on Alberta separation and took a position,” the agreement states.
Forever Canadian has also advised the commissioner that it now intends to engage in referendum advertising.
Under the agreement, Forever Canadian must separate referendum-advertising contributions from other donations and report expenses for events where speakers took sides on the referendum question.
That includes its Aug. 23 YouTube town hall at West Edmonton Mall, similar productions and Unity Bus events held on or after Aug. 20.
The agreement does not say Forever Canadian was fined or establish that all of its earlier activities constituted referendum advertising.
The development follows months of scrutiny from Rebel News over the group’s activities and financial disclosures.
Rebel reported that Forever Canadian disclosed $0 in referendum advertising contributions for 15 straight weeks, despite running events, a branded Unity Bus and distributing lawn signs.
On July 24, lawyers acting for the publication filed a formal complaint with Elections Alberta backed by more than 200 pages of material. It then sought judicial review on Sept. 10 after the complaint remained unresolved.
Rebel also sought a court order to accelerate the complaint process before the Oct. 19 vote, but a judge dismissed that request. The underlying complaint process continued.
Eleven days later, Lukaszuk announced Forever Canadian would campaign explicitly for Alberta to remain in Canada and begin reporting under Elections Alberta’s referendum rules.
Forever Canadian subsequently reported $48,345 in contributions in a single week, according to Rebel News.
Neither the contributions nor Rebel’s legal action establish that Forever Canadian previously violated election law.
The Sept. 29 agreement does, however, require Forever Canadian to account for certain referendum-related expenses dating back to Aug. 20.
Forever Canadian previously spearheaded the Alberta Forever Canada citizen initiative, which secured 404,293 verified signatures calling for Alberta to remain in Canada.
The organization is now openly campaigning for Option 1 on Question 10 ahead of the Oct. 19 vote.
Option 1 says Alberta should remain a province of Canada. Option 2 would begin the legal process required to hold a future binding referendum on separation.
The Oct. 19 vote is therefore not itself a binding referendum on Alberta independence.