In an affidavit, Elections Alberta’s director of compliance and enforcement wrote that the agency uncovered evidence that the Prosperity Project has exceeded legal limits partly by paying for an advertisement on a tractor-trailer off the side of Highway 2, about an hour south of Edmonton.Megan Albu/The Globe and Mail
Elections Alberta on Monday asked a judge to adjourn a hearing without setting a future court date, as it seeks an injunction that would force a prominent Alberta independence group to disclose its financial documents and donors.
Counsel for Elections Alberta did not table a notice before the Court of King’s Bench to discontinue the proceedings and the injunction is still pending.
However, it’s unclear what the next steps will be in the case.
The provincial agency alleges that the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP) breached third-party advertising laws by paying for public messaging in excess of the province’s $1,000 limit for non-registered groups, according to court records obtained by The Globe and Mail.
Since early January, lawyers for APP have rebuffed efforts by the elections agency to dig into the organization’s finances. Elections Alberta in mid-March filed its injunction application that would compel the group to register as a third-party advertiser and disclose its donors and expenses.
Jeffrey Rath, APP independence movement leader and counsel, told The Globe that he and the group’s chief financial officer, Gregory Hartzler, met with Elections Alberta last Friday.
Mr. Rath said he presented evidence that he believes exonerates the group.
“They’re still, quote, unquote, reviewing the documents that we provided to them. But the reality of it is that they haven’t got a case and it’s extremely unlikely that they’re going to be moving forward,” Mr. Rath said on Monday.
Elections Alberta declined to comment, noting it is prohibited by law from speaking publicly about investigations. Ashley Reid, counsel for the agency, also declined to comment on Monday after the court appearance, which lasted less than a minute.
In Alberta, the Prosperity Project has been the most prominent group to advocate for provincial independence. The movement’s support has polled between 20 and 30 per cent but has been energized in the past year through a combination of softened direct-democracy rules legislated by Premier Danielle Smith, the federal Liberals’ sustained governance in Ottawa and U.S. President Donald Trump’s 51st state provocations.
The Elections Alberta investigation is the first publicly known probe into the Prosperity Project, which garnered significant attention in the wake of at least three meetings between Mr. Rath, APP CEO Mitch Sylvestre and the U.S. State Department in the past year.
The two men have both trumpeted and played down the meetings, saying their message has been communicated to the Oval Office while arguing that they aren’t engaging in diplomacy on behalf of Alberta or being funded by U.S interests.
The meetings have also fuelled questions about the Trump administration’s interest in the referendum push and potential unchecked foreign interference.
Ms. Smith has spoken at previous events held by the group and Mr. Sylvestre is a United Conservative Party constituency president.
Since the beginning of the year, however, the once highly active Prosperity Project has ceased almost all activities.
In its place, Mr. Rath and Mr. Sylvestre have built a new group called Stay Free Alberta to champion the effort toward collecting the nearly 178,000 signatures required to force an independence referendum. If current legal challenges to the petition fail, Alberta is likely to hold an independence vote on Oct. 19.
Mr. Rath argues that the Prosperity Project’s hiatus means it does not qualify as a third-party advertiser and its financials and donor list should be off limits.
The Prosperity Project is governed by the Alberta Prosperity Society, which registered as a non-profit in 2022, according to corporate records.
Little is known about the financial support it has received. According to financial information in the corporate registry, the Prosperity Society received more than $1-million in donations in 2022 and $103,000 in donations in 2023.
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Its statements of operation for the following years aren’t publicly available.
Mr. Rath said the donation amounts indicate widespread support for Alberta independence.
Elections Alberta disclosed its investigation into the Prosperity Project and Prosperity Society on March 13 when it asked the Court of King’s Bench for an injunction order that would force the group to provide reports detailing expenses and donations it had received since early January.
It would also ban the Prosperity Project from advertising until it registered as a third-party advertiser and force it to create a bank account with Elections Alberta, the court documents say.
Under Alberta’s citizen-initiative laws, groups must register with Elections Alberta if it has spent, or plans to spend, $1,000 or more in advertising or accept that much in contributions during the petition period.
Elections Alberta’s investigation contends that the Prosperity Project may have breached both those rules since the independence signature campaign started on Jan. 2.
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In an affidavit, Ryan Tebb, Elections Alberta’s director of compliance and enforcement, wrote that the agency uncovered evidence that the Prosperity Project has exceeded legal limits partly by paying for an advertisement on a tractor-trailer off the side of Highway 2, about an hour south of Edmonton.
The advertisement, plastered to the side of an unhitched trailer, reads “Say Yes to an independent Alberta” with a link to the Prosperity Project’s website.
The ad company, Hi-Way Ads, charges about $700 a month for space on their trailers, according to its website. The independence advertisement, passed by at least 30,000 vehicles daily, is still there, meaning a contract of that length would put the Prosperity Project in violation of the $1,000 spending limit. The link to the APP website, however, has been removed.
Mr. Rath said Stay Free Alberta reimbursed the Prosperity Project for the advertisement, which was paid for in full last October.
Mr. Tebb also alleges in his affidavit that the Prosperity Project paid for social-media posts during the first week of the independence campaign. Mr. Rath said those ads were paid for by Stay Free Alberta.
Elections Alberta listed other supporting evidence, including that the group has been holding town halls and a “pledge” page attempting to gather support for the independence petition.
On Feb. 2, the Prosperity Project was asked to produce all online contributions received through its donations webpage from Jan. 2 to Jan. 31, expenses and invoices for town halls over that period, and receipts for advertising about an Alberta independence referendum.
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The group did not meet the Feb. 17 deadline.
Instead, on that day, Mr. Rath wrote a letter to Election Commissioner Paula Hale outlining why he believed the Prosperity Project wasn’t required to register as a third-party advertiser. Mr. Rath described the group as “a loose affiliation of individuals” and denied the existence of the Prosperity Project’s donation portal because it “is not a legal entity.”
Ms. Hale replied eight days later on Feb. 25. In a four-page letter, she rebuked several of his arguments.
“At best, your response to date has been misinformed; at worst, it has been obstructive,” Ms. Hale wrote. She set a new deadline for March 12.
Mr. Rath replied again on deadline day, where he challenged Elections Alberta’s evidence and accused it of “baseless accusations.”
Joseph Redman, counsel for Elections Alberta, replied the following day, on March 13, responding to each of Mr. Rath’s concerns. He wrote that Ms. Hale’s order “is not an invitation for discussion; it is a legal demand.”
Mr. Redman filed an injunction application that day ordering the Prosperity Project to turn over its financials.
On Monday, Mr. Rath called the investigation – now in its fourth month – a “waste of time.”
“From our perspective, all of this was completely unnecessary,” he said.