Activist group Take Back Alberta and founder fined $120K by elections agency

Elections Alberta has recently imposed fines totaling over $120,000 on the conservative activist group Take Back Alberta and its founder David Parker for various violations of Alberta’s election finance laws. This decision was made public on the election agency’s website on Tuesday.
The fines were issued for more than a dozen infractions, including bypassing spending limits, accepting contributions from sources outside of Alberta and Canada, and knowingly providing false information in a financial report submitted to the chief electoral officer. While the agency does not disclose the specific reasons for the penalties, Parker revealed to CBC News that investigators took issue with his assertion that the group’s meetings and speeches criticizing the United Conservative Party (UCP) and NDP did not constitute political advertising.
Parker argued that expressing dissent towards political figures at internal meetings should be protected as free speech in a democracy. Despite the fines, Parker intends to challenge the penalties, although he has not yet determined the method of appeal. Take Back Alberta (TBA) has a 30-day window to pay the fines or proceed with an appeal in court.
TBA has gained prominence in recent years as a forceful activist movement within the UCP. Parker, a former organizer for both federal and provincial parties, played a role in urging disenchanted Albertans to oust then-premier Jason Kenney from the UCP leadership in 2022. He subsequently mobilized party members to elect like-minded activists to the UCP board of directors, aiming to exert influence over the party.
Parker’s close relationship with Premier Danielle Smith, who attended his wedding in 2023, soured following contentious social media posts. He actively campaigned against her UCP leadership review, where she ultimately received strong support. TBA is registered as a third-party advertiser, enabling it to advocate for or against provincial parties and candidates while obligating it to disclose donations and donor identities.
Elections Alberta discovered that Parker exceeded the $30,000 annual donation limit to his own third-party advertiser knowingly. The group faced legal action last year when Parker resisted disclosing requested documents as part of an investigation into financial discrepancies. Parker was previously fined $5,000 plus legal fees for failing to reveal donor names to Elections Alberta within a specified timeframe.
In a communication to TBA supporters, Parker disclosed revenues of $680,000 in 2023 and $688,225 in 2022, despite reporting only $22,309 in contributions that year. Parker characterized the Elections Alberta inquiry as a “witch hunt by unelected bureaucrats” in a social media post last July. Individually, Parker was fined $7,500, TBA was fined $112,500, and the group’s former chief financial officer, Jonathan Heidebrecht, incurred a $500 penalty for a misleading statement in a financial report.