Hi everyone, Mark Iype in Edmonton today.
Elections Alberta is the non-partisan, independent body tasked with maintaining the integrity of Alberta’s electoral system. It looks into political parties, candidates and other interested organizations that might play a role in our elections.
And this week, it turned its eyes to Take Back Alberta and its leader, David Parker.
On Friday, Elections Alberta interviewed Parker for around two hours hoping to get a look at the registered third-party advertiser’s finances.
Parker, of course, a poster child of defiance, has thus far refused, calling Elections Alberta corrupt while saying its investigation is a “fishing expedition.” He says he will not provide his donor list because contributors were not donating for political advertising and he does not want to subject them to harassment from “left-wing extremists.”
“They want everything. They want every financial transaction. They want receipts for every meeting we’ve held,” he said in an interview with The Globe’s Alanna Smith on Thursday.
TBA was co-founded by Parker in 2021 in response to anger over COVID-19 restrictions implemented under then-premier Jason Kenney. The group has since transformed into a turbulent but influential faction within the UCP with critics arguing Parker has the ear of Premier Danielle Smith, who attended his wedding last year. At least half of the UCP’s board is comprised of directors who were endorsed by the right-wing group.
Parker was notified last November of the investigation by Elections Alberta in relation to the “activities and financial filings” of TBA and Parker himself as chief executive and financial officer.
On Friday, Parker organized a rally of dozens of supporters outside the Elections Alberta office in Edmonton before he went in to be interviewed.
When he emerged two hours later, Parker said: “They’re trying to claim that townhalls, where I tell my story and encourage people to get involved in politics, were election advertising because I say I don’t like the NDP.”
Elections Alberta, through spokesperson Robyn Bell, in a statement, said the office cannot comment on ongoing investigations in accordance with the Election Act and Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act.
She said all third-party advertisers are subject to reporting requirements.
Elections Alberta says advertising expenses include the ads themselves but also where “an election, a registered party, or a candidate is referred to directly or indirectly at the event or in the promotional materials.”
TBA has been registered as a political third-party advertiser since February, 2022, and an election third-party advertiser since last April.
TBA has run a number of ads on its official Facebook page since it was created in March, 2022, according to Facebook’s advertising database. The latest ad, which ran in February and March, was in support of Alberta withdrawing from the Canada Pension Plan, a policy promoted by Smith.
Third-party advertisers can be fined up to $100,000 if it is found they violated election finance rules.
This is the weekly Western Canada newsletter written by B.C. Editor Wendy Cox and Alberta Bureau Chief Mark Iype. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.
Wendy Cox