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Alberta’s Chief Electoral Officer, Gordon McClure, outlined the criteria for groups to register as third-party advertisers for the Oct. 19 independence referendum.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Elections Alberta’s interpretation of campaign-finance laws ahead of this fall’s independence referendum is allowing groups to skirt disclosure rules, potentially exposing the province to foreign interference, according to leaders of both federalist and separatist organizations.
In a statement this week, the province’s Chief Electoral Officer, Gordon McClure, outlined the criteria for groups to register as third-party advertisers for Alberta’s Oct. 19 referendum, citing “much confusion and misinformation about what qualifies as referendum advertising.”
Mr. McClure wrote that referendum advertising is defined as material that promotes or opposes a referendum question – but vague messages loosely associated with the ballot issues “may not fall within the definition.”
The distinction is critical for groups vying for public opinion because registered third-party advertisers cannot accept contributions outside Alberta, must disclose their donations and face strict spending limits. Those laws don’t apply to unregistered groups.
Mr. McClure wrote that statements such as “send a message to Ottawa” or “Celebrate Canada” don’t constitute referendum advertising because they don’t specifically support or oppose a question in the referendum. Meanwhile, words such as vote, choose, remain, separate and independence indicate a message is referendum advertising.
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Elections Alberta has allowed at least one group to sidestep its disclosure process so far, and campaigners are sounding the alarm that many others have been given a roadmap to do the same.
“I’m at a loss, and it’s infuriating me,” said Stephen Carter, a campaign strategist leading Alberta’s Voice, a group campaigning for Alberta to stay in Canada. His organization is encouraging residents to vote no to Premier Danielle Smith’s nine referendum questions on immigration policy and constitutional issues.
The province’s election watchdog has been under intense scrutiny in the lead-up to the fall referendum. The spectre of a vote on Alberta’s future in Canada has fuelled concern that Elections Alberta lacks the resources to keep foreign cash out of campaigns, and Mr. McClure has said that his agency is in overdrive trying to keep up with the work flooding his office.
In recent weeks, nearly two-dozen groups have emerged to campaign around Ms. Smith’s referendum question asking voters to pick between remaining in Canada or work toward holding a second, binding secession referendum.
So far, separatist groups have trounced federalists, raising a combined $411,349 to the pro-Canada side’s $67,036.
Let Alberta Decide, a three-week-old pro-independence group, has raised more than $233,000 – still a distance from Elections Alberta’s $607,000 spending limit per advertiser. Alberta’s Voice, the group started by Mr. Carter, has performed the best among federalist groups, fielding nearly $45,000 in donations – primarily bolstered by 21 donations to the sum of about $29,400.
Prominent separatist groups have been buoyed by a mix of small and big-money donations; slightly less than half of contributions to Let Alberta Decide, for example, have been greater than $250, and five companies and two individuals have donated the $5,000 legal maximum.
Let Alberta Decide and Pathway to Independence, a separatist group started by columnist Cory Morgan, have a handful of the same donors, who are allowed to divide the $5,000 maximum across groups.
Other than Alberta’s Voice, federalist groups have languished. Vote to Stay, an outfit started by ex-politicians including former Alberta premier Jason Kenney, has raised slightly more than $10,000 from two $5,000 donations.
Recently, however, separatist and federalist groups have been frustrated by a handful of advertisers that have not disclosed contributions despite distributing campaign materials, and many have publicly questioned their funding sources.
The main target of the anger – primarily from separatist camps – has been Forever Canadian, the group that last summer collected roughly 404,000 signatures in support of remaining in Canada.
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Forever Canadian leader Thomas Lukaszuk speaks at a rally in Edmonton in May.Amanda May Erickson/The Canadian Press
While Forever Canadian is a designated registered advertiser, it has not been subjected to the same disclosure rules as others. Group leader Thomas Lukaszuk told The Globe and Mail that Elections Alberta wrote in a recent letter to him that the group isn’t required to report financial contributions because it isn’t promoting a position in the referendum.
Instead of picking a side in the referendum, Mr. Lukaszuk said his group is advocating for “national unity.” Over the past month, Forever Canadian has opened two campaign offices and distributed thousands of lawn signs that read “Choose Unity.” Its website says there are no limits on donation amounts.
“We’re filing $0 at this point in time until we decide to campaign on her question, which I don’t foresee ever happening,” Mr. Lukaszuk said of Ms. Smith.
Mr. Lukaszuk declined to share Elections Alberta’s letter, and the agency didn’t comment, saying it doesn’t share private correspondence.
The allowance for Forever Canadian now has other groups debating what type of messaging constitutes referendum advertising and ways they too can sidestep disclosure laws.
Keith Wilson, one of the leaders of Let Alberta Decide, the pro-independence outfit, said Elections Alberta’s guidance “made no sense” and the province’s election-finance laws have faltered as the agency has tried to apply them to real-life scenarios.
“He seems to be applying one standard for those who are campaigning for Alberta to stay in Canada and a different, more rigorous standard for those of us who are campaigning for Alberta to leave,” Mr. Wilson, a lawyer, said of Mr. McClure.
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Federalists are also voicing frustration with the watchdog’s application of advertising laws.
Mr. Carter, with Alberta’s Voice, said the phrase “send a message to Ottawa” – a phrase Mr. McClure said is too broad to constitute advertising – is one of the most persuasive arguments available to the pro-independence side.
On Thursday, his group published a website called Project51Alberta with tongue-in-cheek instructions on how Americans can influence the election without breaching advertising laws. The website directly calls out Elections Alberta’s guidance on advertising.
“It seems like we’re moving towards something that is like the magic-word doctrine. If you use any of the magic words – vote for, remain, stay – then you are a referendum advertiser. And if you don’t, then you’re not,” Mr. Carter said.
While Elections Alberta has the task of policing referendum campaigns, it’s required to interpret and apply the law as it’s written by the provincial government, said Shaun Fluker, a law professor at the University of Calgary.
Prof. Fluker said Alberta’s election-finance laws weren’t designed for referendums, and particularly questions that don’t have yes-or-no answers, like the separation question.
“I’m not sure Elections Alberta deserves the criticism for this because they are being forced to apply an interpretive exercise to what is effectively a word salad of a question,” Prof. Fluker said.