An Alberta judge has declined to fast-track Rebel News’ bid to compel Elections Alberta to respond to its complaint about referendum advertising by Thomas Lukaszuk’s Forever Canadian campaign before the Oct. 19 vote. In a ruling Wednesday, Court of King’s Bench Justice Christopher Simard said the complaint was not urgent enough to be heard and decided in time, and the proposed schedule was unworkable.

Rebel News, a media outlet that the Edmonton Journal described as far-right, filed its complaint on July 24. Earlier this month, it asked the court to order election commissioner Paula Hale and chief electoral officer Gordon McClure to say whether an investigation was planned or whether the complaint had been rejected. Lukaszuk and Forever Canadian are not named as respondents in Rebel’s court filings.

At a virtual hearing Tuesday, Rebel’s lawyers also sought access to Elections Alberta files related to the July submission. They argued the court needed to hear the complaint before Oct. 19 because its outcome could potentially affect referendum results. Simard rejected the request to expedite the litigation, proposing hearings on Oct. 14 and 15.

“I simply don’t think there’s enough time,” Simard said. He noted that it was theoretically possible Elections Alberta “could be announcing the outcome tomorrow.” He also said: “If (Rebel) is right, and the commissioner is not investigating, all that’s going to happen after a decision on the 14th and 15th is that an investigation will start, or there will be notice of a refusal to investigate.”

The judge did not decide whether Rebel’s allegations or legal arguments were valid. The merits will be considered at court dates that have yet to be determined. Simard said that even if an investigation had begun or were launched, it would not produce results before voting day.

Provincial legislation makes Elections Alberta investigations confidential. Complainants are informed of the result only when an investigation is complete or when the agency declines to pursue a complaint. By law, knowledge of an ongoing investigation is restricted to Elections Alberta and the party being investigated. The election commissioner has one year after receiving a complaint to complete an investigation and issue an administrative penalty.

“The scheme is the scheme we have,” Simard said. “It may not be perfect but it is what we have to work with.” His ruling addressed the timing request, not the substantive dispute over whether Forever Canadian’s activities were subject to referendum advertiser rules.

Rebel alleges Lukaszuk has been violating rules governing the reporting of contributions and spending while running what it characterizes as a campaign in support of the option to remain in Canada. Lukaszuk has said Forever Canadian is campaigning through its own petition, which gathered more than 400,000 verified supporting signatures but is not on the ballot. He has also maintained that the group did not advocate for a specific referendum option and therefore was not subject to advertiser rules.

Elections Alberta has previously said that “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 (of an advertisement).” The agency’s statement concerns how referendum messages may be assessed under the definition of advertising.

Under Alberta law, registered third-party advertisers are “persons, corporations or groups that raise or spend, or plan to raise or spend at least $1,000 on political advertising.” For referendum advertising, they may spend no more than $607,000 and may accept no more than $5,000 in contributions from any one Alberta-based individual, corporation or union over the course of a year.

Elections Alberta publishes advertiser contributions on its website weekly on Fridays. The updates include revised totals and spreadsheets with contributors’ names and hometowns. Rebel News has registered as a third-party advertiser under the name “Alberta’s Choice” and campaigns in support of separation. By the end of the latest reporting period, Sept. 17, it had reported $38,428 in contributions, the ninth-highest amount among advertisers.

Forever Canadian registered as a third-party advertiser in June and had recorded no contributions, with a reported total of $0. On Monday, Lukaszuk referred to the 2016 Brexit vote and said the campaign was changing tactics because of the need to guard against complacency. “This is not the time to send a message to Ottawa,” he told reporters in Calgary, adding that future contributions would be reported and used for advertising costs. “If there was a message to be sent, I suggest that it has already been sent and it has been heard.”

The Edmonton Journal report included files from Daniel Gonzalez. It listed the contact mblack@postmedia.com and invited readers to bookmark EdmontonJournal.com and EdmontonSun.com, sign up for newsletters and subscribe for unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites.

Based on reporting by Edmonton Journal.