Here’s a question.
Should a group with what appears to have a clear partisan agenda, which holds events and creates campaigns to directly impact a ruling political party’s decisions, be required to reveal its donors’ names to officials checking election finances?
Elections Alberta thinks so and has demanded that Take Back Alberta (TBA) turn over information about who is funding the group.
The Back Story
For anyone unaware of TBA, their agenda is not exactly subtle.
Their name kind of says it all: they want to ‘take back Alberta” from what they call “left-wing extremists” and reinstate “traditional, Christian family values.”
While they talk about freedom a lot, many observers view TBA as a patriarchal, white Christian extremist group.
TBA is registered as a third-party advertiser, not an official political party.
This means they can oppose or support any candidate or party and advocate on policy issues.
But they do more than just state opposition and support.
TBA and their outspoken leader, David Parker, take credit for turfing former Premier Jason Kenney and replacing him with Danielle Smith, a radio talk show host at the time. A powerful feat, to say the least.
Turfing the sitting Premier was just the beginning.
Parker and the TBA then set their sights on taking over the governing UCP party.
TBA organization ran a very public and well-organized campaign to get control of the board.
They succeeded in sweeping all nine seats, and now TBA members hold influential positions on the UCP board of directors.
Let’s say that TBA ‘bends the ears’ of the UCP directly and not in a ’third-party’ manner.
However, the UCP denies it takes direction from TBA.
You have to hand it to the TBA; they don’t just whine and complain. They take action.
And regardless of whether you agree with their positions, isn’t that what democracy is all about?
The Big Problem
Alberta and Canada have rules about groups trying to influence candidates, parties and laws.
Albertans don’t like secret wealthy donors trying to buy our elections, our politicians, or influence our laws.
We don’t want to see our elections and law-making degenerate into the big-money political action committees that front for political parties in the US.
Both Alberta and Federal election rules put strict limits on donations and third-party spending by groups like the TBA to influence our laws.
Alberta and the feds both ban political parties from accepting donations from corporations or unions.
Both cap individual donations; Alberta also bans donations from people living outside of Alberta and caps corporate and union donations to third parties at $30,000.
The rules expressly forbid colluding with political parties to circumvent the spending limits imposed on parties in a bid to level the monetary playing field.
The law also requires all donations to be disclosed to Elections Alberta to keep everyone honest.
It all flows from the old saying about democracy, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”
Unfortunately, TBA doesn’t want to abide by these transparency rules.
That’s why Elections Alberta wants to know who the funders are behind the TBA machine.
Thumbing Their Nose at Alberta’s Democracy Watchdog
Elections Alberta is the non-partisan, independent body set up by the provincial government to maintain the integrity of Alberta’s electoral system and police groups trying to influence Alberta’s laws.
They investigate political parties, candidates, and other organizations that participate in our elections or influence policy to ensure that all activities are fair and transparent.
So, it should be no surprise to David Parker that his group is being investigated.
TBA claims to be responsible for influencing the vote, leading to former Premier Kenney’s ousting. They have been very vocal about taking over a registered political party’s power structure.
But Parker is surprised and is fighting back.
Treated Unfairly?
According to TBA’s leader, Elections Alberta has subpoenaed his group.
“They want everything. They want every financial transaction. They want receipts for every meeting we’ve held,” Parker said in an interview with The Globe and Mail.
The records concern more than 100 events held by TBA last year.
Elections Alberta aims to investigate the organization’s donor list to clarify how the group is financially tied to Alberta’s greater political landscape.
But Parker isn’t giving that up without a fight.
He’s maintained that because TBA reported zero donations and zero expenditures as a registered election advertiser last year, the “investigation is a witch hunt.”
He makes this claim despite frequent fundraising appeals for support of UCP policies that TBA backs.
“They are demanding that I release the entire list of donors to Take Back Alberta. This is a violation of the Elections Act since the donors to Take Back Alberta were not donating for political advertising,” he said in a post on X.
“I will not be releasing the names of our donors so that they can be harassed by left-wing activists.”
Parker is adamant that TBA is being unfairly targeted, but objectively, the work TBA is involved in clearly fits within the “political advertising” rules outlined above.
They are packing votes to oust Premiers and take over party executives.
They have now set their sights on taking over school boards.
Following the Rules?
Elections Alberta seeks information from TBA to ensure the group follows these rules.
On X, Parker doesn’t see it that way.
He insists Elections Alberta operates on a double standard by not investigating concerns over “collusion between the Alberta NDP and unions.”
Elections Alberta has yet to state whether Parker’s union concern will also be investigated.
In our province, all donations over $250 to a third-party political organization must be reported to Elections Alberta with the donor names, which are then posted for the public to view online.
Elections Alberta has the power to levy fines for violations of the rules.
Parker himself has admitted that TBA does receive large and influential donations and has even given lightly veiled threats about what would happen if the benefactors behind these donations were revealed.
“I wouldn’t want to be naming those donors if I was Elections Alberta,” Parker told Press Progress.
“It’s a dangerous game messing with the powerful.”
Hmmm.
