Money in politics is like water. It will find a way.Alberta — like Canada and all provinces — heavily regulates political fundraising and spending for parties and so-called "third-party advertisers,” that is, groups that spend money on advertising to influence how people vote.And in Alberta, that applies to third-party advertisers campaigning on both sides of Alberta's upcoming quasi-independence referendum.Or more accurately, it applies to every third-party advertiser (TPA), other than the largest and most prominent federalist group, 'Forever Canada,’ led by former lefty MLA Thomas Lukasuk.Inexplicably, Elections Alberta has refused to require them to register and comply with the rules that everyone else is.This means that the biggest anti-independence campaign organization is able to operate entirely outside of the law. They are exempt from the $607,000 spending limit. They are exempt from the $5,000 donation limit. They are free to accept donations from outside of Alberta, or even Canada..Elections Alberta — which has regularly intervened against the independence campaign, and never against the federalist side — claims that Forever Canada is not a campaign.Here is the Forever Canada Not-a-Campaign Bus..Here is a Forever Canada Not-a-Campaign Sign..Here is the Forever Canada Campaign Office..Elections Alberta and Forever Canada do not want you to believe your lying eyes. Because Forever Canada is most certainly not a campaign.Forever Canada has to comply with none of the restrictions placed on its opponents on the pro-independence side of the referendum.This is self-evidently unfair. And it would severely taint the legitimacy of the results if the federalist side wins the October 19 referendum. Independence supporters would be right to deny the legitimacy of the results if their main opponent is allowed to flout the same laws that constrain them..And since polls currently favour the federalists, this seems like an unnecessary risk for the federalists to take. Why taint their victory if it's not necessary? Why give the independence movement a ready-made and obvious reason to cry foul?It's a head-scratcher.Alberta Chief Electoral Officer, Gordon McClure, is no shrinking violet when it comes to intervening in the independence debate. At least, he isn't when it comes to one side of it.Last year, McClure intervened against the original citizen-initiated petition as proposed by the Alberta Prosperity Project, which proposed a crystal-clear question on independence that was most certainly compliant with the federal Clarity Act and the Supreme Court's Quebec secession reference case. It was a huge overstepping of the traditional role of a chief electoral officer.McClure made no similar intervention against Thomas Lukazuk's pro-federalist petition.The Smith government responded with Bill 14, which took that power away from McClure..And while McClure has not required Forever Canada to register as a TPA, report on its donations, or comply with donation limitations, you can bet your bottom dollar that he wouldn't give an inch if one of the pro-independence groups tried to skirt the law.Western Standard columnist Cory Morgan decided on his own to start a little TPA, to get some pro-independence lawn signs out there. He hoped it would be a small operation he could operate off the side of his desk; however, the demand for signage now has Mrs. Morgan breathing down his neck.His little operation self-evidently required him to register as a TPA, comply with donation and spending laws, and report on it weekly.I've seen his little garage operation. It's pretty maw-and-paw. Yet he has to comply with onerous legislation that is not applied to the obviously well-funded Forever Canada.And Forever Canada is doing a hell of a lot more than handing out a few lawn signs. As noted above, it has a campaign office, a campaign bus, and campaign workers.But it's not a campaign. At least according to Elections Alberta.The federalists have a massive advantage in this fight. If they don't want to fight fairly, it is the job of Elections Alberta to make sure they do.
