Forever Canadian is shifting gears to more directly campaign for Albertans voting to remain in Canada this fall, with less than a month to go before referendum day on Oct. 19.
Thomas Lukaszuk, a former deputy premier of Alberta who’s steering the Forever Canadian campaign, said on Monday his group will now focus its message. Instead of broad support for Canadian unity, he said the group will begin officially advocating that voters participate in next month’s referendum and vote for Alberta to remain in Canada.
The move follows weeks of criticism from pro-separatist groups that have argued Forever Canadian should already have been disclosing financial information around its advertising and campaign work.
Forever Canadian has driven across Alberta for months, handing out lawn signs and holding events supporting Canadian unity. The group also registered as a third-party advertiser in June.
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But in that time, the group never officially articulated its stance on any specific referendum question, meaning it did not need to file financial disclosures. According to Elections Alberta’s website, Forever Canadian has raised $0 in the referendum advertising period as of Sept. 17.
Lukaszuk previously said his group didn’t want to legitimize the referendum question on Alberta independence by campaigning on it directly.
But on Monday, he said his group was moving “from a shotgun approach to a rifle approach” to drum up voter turnout.
“This is not the time for complacency. Voter turnout is the most important thing at this point in time,” said Lukaszuk.
“It’s very easy to believe polling and assume that we’re going to win, and if there’s a great hockey game on TV or perhaps it’s raining outside, to say ‘Ah, we’re going to win anyway, I don’t need to vote.’ That’s how you lose referenda.”
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Lukaszuk added he’s also motivated to campaign on the remain side, to guide federalist voters who find the referendum question’s wording too confusing.
Question 10 in this fall’s referendum asks whether Alberta should remain a province of Canada, or commence the legal process required under the Constitution to hold a binding referendum on whether Alberta should separate.
Lukaszuk led the Forever Canadian petition campaign last year, which gathered more than 400,000 signatures in support of Alberta remaining in Canada. But he said his goal was for MLAs to vote on the question in the legislature, not in a referendum.
Forever Canadian will now be required to file weekly contribution reports disclosing the money it raises for third-party advertising.
But Cory Morgan, founder of the pro-separatist third-party advertiser Pathway to Independence, argues Lukaszuk’s group has skirted third-party campaign rules since the referendum advertising period began earlier this year.
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“He’s splitting hairs with the words and completely violating the spirit of the legislation,” said Morgan.
“If we can split hairs on words like that and have what’s clearly a campaign not be considered a campaign, the legislation’s useless. I mean, any of us could have danced around the wording then and avoided all scrutiny and reporting requirements.”
Registered third-party advertisers can spend up to $607,000 on referendum advertising, according to Elections Alberta rules.
Morgan cited the number of Forever Canadian signs dotting lawns around Alberta, and said Lukaszuk’s group should be transparent about how much money it’s already spent on what he sees as campaign work for the “remain” side in the referendum.
“I just very much feel that principle of playing on an equal playing field is pretty important, and I don’t think that’s been happening in this campaign so far,” said Morgan.
Lukaszuk said his group has always complied with Alberta election laws, and that Elections Alberta previously determined the organization did not need to report financials because Forever Canadian wasn’t campaigning on an official response to a referendum question.
On Monday, Elections Alberta said referendum advertising must relate to a specific referendum question and must attempt to persuade an elector to vote in a particular way. It added that any third-party advertiser income or donations related to referendum advertising and expenses must be reported to Elections Alberta.
Elections Alberta lists contributions to each third-party advertiser, updated weekly, on its website.
