Forever Canadian helps federalists narrow separatist advertisers' advantage

Advertisers advocating for Alberta to remain in Canada saw their top fundraising to date over the last week, powered in part by Thomas Lukaszuk's Forever Canadian group who led all advertisers in contributions, according to the latest figures from Elections Alberta.

Over the seven-day period ending Thursday, federalists combined raised more than $113,000, by far their biggest total to date, and the second-biggest fundraising week to date by either side. That figure includes $48,345 given to Forever Canadian, the most of any advertiser in the past week.

Its financial disclosure statement posted Friday spans March 31 until this week, though figures do not specify when the money was contributed, and other advertisers disclosures list a similar time frame.

Four of the top five advertisers by amount raised in the last week were federalists, and it's the second straight week that federalists have out-raised their separatists counterparts.

Separatist advertisers continue to have a significant overall lead with $994,107.03 raised to date compared to the $506,482.97 raised by federalists.

Keith Wilson's Let Alberta Decide topped all separatist advertisers this week, drawing nearly $22,000 of the $37,362 total separatist contributions.

The overall contribution margin between the two sides shrank for a second straight week, down to $488,000, the lowest it's been since mid-July.

There are now 28 registered advertisers, including 16 separatist and nine federalists, though four have yet to report any contributions.

Forever Canadian registered as a third party advertiser in June but until this week had similarly reported $0 in contributions.

Lukaszuk had previously stated he had not needed to report contributions as his campaign was focused on its own petition that had gathered more than 400,000 validated supporting signatures but was not on the ballot, and was instead promoting national unity.

He also pointed to guidance published by Elections Alberta stating that general messages that do not specifically reference a referendum question do not necessarily qualify as advertising.

On Monday, Lukaszuk said he was pivoting from his prior strategy and would from now on specifically advocate for Option 1 on Question 10 of the referendum, calling for Alberta to remain within Canada, which in turns makes his group's finances subject to disclosure laws.

He cited the potential for complacency, drawing from the 2016 Brexit vote, in discussing the change of tactics.

Separatists have accused Forever Canadian of skirting financial disclosure rules and running a de facto advertising campaign since the start.

Rebel News, which is itself a registered advertiser operating as Alberta's Choice in support of separatism, filed a complaint with Elections Alberta in the fall calling for it to investigate Forever Canadian's compliance with election law.

On Tuesday, a judge dismissed Rebel's call for that complaint to be expedited so as to be heard before the Oct. 19 vote.

Under provincial legislation, Elections Alberta's investigations are confidential, with complainants only informed of the outcome once an investigation is completed, or if the agency declines to pursue a complaint.

Alberta referendum: Here are the latest third-party advertiser figures ahead of Oct. 19 vote

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