Elections Alberta’s financing rules will damage trust in the secession referendum process

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Tyler Dawson is an Edmonton-based editor for The Globe and Mail’s Opinion section. He is the author of The Republic of Alberta: An Idea That Won’t Go Away.

Here’s a bit of a shocker: The separatists, according to filings with Elections Alberta, are dramatically out-earning the federalists. A single separatist third-party advertiser, Let Alberta Decide, has netted around $230,000 in donations. All the federalists, in contrast, have brought in less than $70,000.

Indeed, the biggest federalist group, Forever Canadian – the one everyone knows about and whose lawn signs you can see cropping up in neighbourhoods in Alberta – has somehow managed to collect $0 in donations.

If true, that would be terrible for the federalists. But it’s not precisely true. And that’s because of Elections Alberta rules that create a serious risk that either side, or the public, could view the referendum as unfair or its outcome untrustworthy.

Elections Alberta’s referendum advertising rules vex federalist and separatist groups alike

What’s actually happening here is that even though Forever Canadian is registered as a third-party advertiser, it’s apparently not considered as such by Elections Alberta, and therefore doesn’t need to disclose its financials. The reason is that it’s supposedly not campaigning for or against the upcoming referendum on Alberta’s future in Canada, and what activities it is engaging in are not captured by the rules binding other groups.

This applies to the separatists, too. The Alberta Prosperity Project, the most well-known separatist organization, also hasn’t registered as a third-party advertiser.

Elections Alberta helpfully explains that there are certain activities in which one could participate during the referendum campaign without qualifying as a participant in the campaign. This would include displaying a flag or phrases such as “send a message to Ottawa” or “celebrate Canada.” In order to be explicit advertising, therefore triggering the obligation to register and disclose donations, the “advertising in question must be an attempt to convince an elector to vote in a certain way,” in addition to a few other qualifications.

But the definitions are so narrow as to exclude political activity that looks an awful lot like participation in the referendum process. “Send a message to Ottawa” is a key part of the separatists’ messaging, for example. Of course it’s political, and of course advocating for such is taking a side in the referendum.

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Elections Alberta has unfortunately provided a roadmap for participating without being subject to financial regulations. Stephen Carter, who’s behind the Alberta’s Voice pro-Canada group, has even created a spoof website to coach the “American billionaire ... oil lobbyist ... or man with a podcast and a cheque” on how to interfere in the referendum without breaking the rules. These regulations allow for money and political activity to slosh about in ways that are likely to undermine trust in the process.

Every federalist hopes that the separatists are going to be dealt a crushing, humiliating blow on Oct. 19 that sends them skulking back to the furthest reaches of Alberta’s political fringe. For any of the federalist groups to be spared the scrutiny that many separatist groups have submitted to is not only unfair, but actively hampers the perception that this is a level playing field.

To win convincingly, the thing must be won fairly. Both sides ought to feel the same way.

Plus, there’s the fact that these groups are obviously taking a side, and everybody knows it, regardless of what the rules say. Forever Canadian’s founder, Thomas Lukaszuk, a former deputy premier of Alberta, is traversing the province, handing out lawn signs that say “Choose Unity,” while saying the group isn’t campaigning on the specific referendum question. But this can have no other meaning, in the context of a referendum, but to show one’s support for remaining in Canada (while encouraging others to do the same).

The APP has similarly mostly confined itself to talking about independence in the abstract, but the point remains: Talking about the benefits of secession in the context of a referendum campaign means they’re taking a side.

Again, the narrowness of Elections Alberta’s rules allows for a distinct slipperiness about all of this, and this bodes ill for both disclosure about financing and trust in the process.

In the case of Forever Canadian specifically, it is almost certainly the largest and best organized of the federalist campaigns, having mobilized thousands of volunteers over the course of 2025.

If they’re sitting the fight out, it’s negligence of the highest order, at a supremely important moment.

But if they’re in the game, they should submit to the most expansive possible interpretation of the rules.

The same goes for the separatists. Simple as that. Or Elections Alberta should reconsider its narrow framing to ensure the entire process is above reproach.