EDMONTON — Alberta independence advocate and co-leader of the "Let Alberta Decide" third-party advertising group, Keith Wilson, called on Elections Alberta to apply Alberta's election laws fairly ahead of the independence referendum on Tuesday, claiming that the office is compromised. "It is expected to conduct itself with impartiality and the highest degree of integrity and treat all sides the same," said Wilson during an interview with Rebel News. "No observer can look at the facts here and conclude that's what's happening. Elections Alberta has compromised itself. It is blatantly obvious." .Alberta independence supporters have claimed that Thomas Lukaszuk's Forever Canadian and other federalist groups have violated election advertising laws by campaigning for Alberta to remain in Canada without registering as third-party advertisers and failing to disclose weekly financial contributions. Elections Alberta has not formally addressed Forever Canadian's activities, but they responded to complaints on numerous occasions, including an advertising laws interpretation bulletin on July 8, in which they detailed what constitutes "referendum advertising." "Not every advertisement that touches on the issues that are the subject of a referendum will meet the definition of 'referendum advertising,'" reads the press release attached to the bulletin. "General messages that may be associated with the issues that are the subject of a referendum, but are vague or ambiguous as to the referendum questions themselves, may not fall within the definition."The Western Standard reached out to Elections Alberta for a comment following Tuesday's complaint..Nationalist also raised concerns about whether Forever Canadian was accepting donations from non-Alberta residents, which would violate the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act.Elements of their complaints hinge on technical details of the law, which state that a donor must be an "ordinary resident" and that advertising laws come into force once Alberta enters a referendum period."Ordinary resident" throws the contributions into question because the term is not defined, and an individual can live outside of Alberta for a period of time, such as for university or spending the winter in Arizona or Florida, while still claiming Alberta as their ordinary residence.Further complicating the concerns is that Lukaszuk's group sat in limbo for months after Elections Alberta verified their petition and ended the citizen initiative phase, and Alberta did not enter a referendum period until Premier Danielle Smith declared the independence question on May 21. .Forever Canadian registered as a TPA on June 8.Lukaszuk previously told Global News that Forever Canadian does not accept donations from outside of Alberta, and he defended his actions by saying his group is not directly campaigning against the Alberta independence question on the referendum. "Thomas Lukaszuk with his Forever Canada thing is almost rubbing it in now," Wilson said. "'Look at you guys are following the rules, and the Chief Electoral Officer is not requiring me to.' He said in a BBC interview this week that he's going to do everything he can to win the vote, as you noted.""He has a campaign office in both Calgary and Edmonton. He has a campaign bus. He has a campaign slogan. He has a campaign website. He has campaign volunteers, and he's put out 1000s and 1000s and 1000s of campaign signs across the province.""And meanwhile, Elections Alberta says, 'Oh no, he's not campaigning,' but they hunt us down for the slightest infractions. So, it's really disappointing.".Wilson said electoral offices, such as Elections Alberta, are key in a democracy because they help ensure the safety and security of the voting process, and individuals need to trust the integrity of the electoral process. "If Albertans cannot trust the integrity of the electoral process, it's a serious threat to democracy," Wilson said. "And I hope the Chief Electoral Officer either changes course and enforces the law evenly, or he recognizes he's not up for the job and he steps down.” Elections Alberta defended their actions in a statement written to the Western Standard on July 15 after Wilson's TPA complained about Lukaszuk's suspected advertising violations. "Elections Alberta is the non-partisan and independent office of the Alberta Legislature," reads the statement from Elections Alberta. "We remain neutral on the outcome of any process; our focus and concern is the fair and non-partisan conduct of the process itself.""Elections Alberta does not decide or determine the rules and legislation for third party advertisers, this is the role of the Government. Our role is registering Referendum Third Party Advertisers and monitoring their compliance with election finance rules, as written in the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act (EFCDA), read in conjunction with the Guide for Referendum Third Party Advertisers."
