EDMONTON — Nationalist supporters contributed more money than federalists to third-party advertising groups for Alberta's referendum, outspending their opposition despite a late push from Forever Canadian donors. Albertans donated $1.1 million to the 17 pro-independence TPAs between when Premier Danielle Smith announced the Alberta independence questions and Oct. 19, topping the eight federalist groups' $843,050 by $258,930, according to reports submitted to Elections Alberta and published on its website. Keith Wilson and Tanya Clemens' Let Alberta Decide was the top-funded campaign overall, raising $581,780, powered an initial surge of donations and crossing the $500,000 threshold by the Sept. 11 reporting period. Their advertising largely centred around lawn and other large signs, along with social media and radio advertisements, calling on Albertans to "vote for Option Two" and give Alberta leverage over Ottawa. .Federalist groups captured silver and bronze on the overall campaign leaderboard, with Alberta's Voice raising $327,785, and Forever Canadian collecting $221,869. Controversy surrounded Forever Canadian throughout the referendum campaign, as many saw it as the top group advocating for Alberta to remain in Canada, yet it did not begin reporting financial contributions until September. Its leader, Thomas Lukaszuk, argued that his group was campaigning for "Canadian unity" and not advertising on either side of the specific referendum question. Elections Alberta faced numerous challenges over this tension, as nationalists questioned why it was not enforcing Alberta's financial disclosure laws evenly, with some even calling for the chief electoral officer's resignation. The office emphasized on numerous occasions that contributions for advertising on the specific referendum question must be disclosed. They did reprimand Forever Canadian on Sept. 29, after Elections Alberta identified referendum advertising dating back to Aug. 20, and the two sides entered a compliance agreement requiring the group to provide contribution statements dating back to then. Forever Canadian reported $48,345 on their first statement submitted on Sept. 25. They claimed a surge of donations during the final four days of the campaign, reporting $102,324 in contributions between Oct. 16 and 19. .Pathway to Independence was the second-highest-funded nationalist group, raising $134,994 in its campaign, after being the primary pro-independence TPA before Let Alberta Decide registered with Elections Alberta in June. The Conservative Party of Canada's TPA, "Canadian Patriots," raised $42,800 during its campaign after not claiming donations before the Sept. 25 reports. Stay Free Alberta, which led the pro-Alberta independence citizen initiative petition that helped trigger the referendum, claimed $74,558 in donations after reporting its first contribution during the week of Aug. 27. Albertans donated a combined $2 million to referendum advertisers at large, including $1.95 million to the 24 TPAs on either side of the Alberta independence question.
