Forever Canadian has entered a voluntary compliance agreement with Elections Alberta over reporting contributions and expenses related to referendum advertising. The Thomas Lukaszuk-led group has toured Alberta for several months with a message of Canadian unity, but the agreement identifies two events in August where speakers took positions on the province’s separation referendum question.

Elections Alberta published the agreement on Tuesday, saying its purpose is “to ensure compliance with the legislation going forward.” The agreement is to remain in force until Forever Canadian completes and complies with all referendum advertising and financial reporting requirements. Lukaszuk told Postmedia the agreement was voluntary and involved no discipline.

Advertisers seeking to influence public opinion on any of the 10 referendum questions being voted on Oct. 19 must register with Elections Alberta and meet financial reporting requirements. Forever Canadian registered as an advertiser in June, but reported no contributions until last week. Lukaszuk said the group had followed Elections Alberta guidance that general messages about unity did not necessarily count as advertising, provided they did not explicitly promote a ballot option.

The group’s activities have included tour stops, concerts, rallies and other speaking events around the province. Elections Alberta said most of those events did not breach election rules because they were general in nature and did not tell people how to vote on a referendum question.

“These events were general in nature and were not for the purpose of telling people how to vote on a referendum question,” the agreement says. It adds: “In other words, these events did not have, as a significant purpose, to promote or oppose a referendum question and therefore did not constitute referendum advertising.”

The agreement describes exceptions at two events in late August. “The election commissioner identified occasions where a speaker made specific reference to the referendum question on Alberta separation and took a position,” it says. The events were an Aug. 20 stop on the group’s “Unity Bus” tour and an Aug. 23 YouTube event recorded at West Edmonton Mall. The agreement says unidentified speakers at those events promoted or opposed a referendum question.

The agreement requires Forever Canadian to include expenses for the two events in a future disclosure. It also requires the group to clarify on its website, which states that contributions have no limit, which contributions are for referendum advertising and which are unrelated to that advertising. Contributions for referendum advertising are limited by law to $5,000 annually.

Separatist advertisers had criticized Forever Canadian, alleging it was skirting the rules by running what they called a de facto campaign to encourage Albertans to vote to stay in Canada without disclosing who funded it. The group said its approach changed last month. Lukaszuk said it began directly supporting the stay-in-Canada option on the October ballot and has reported contributions since then.

“There is no broken rules,” Lukaszuk said. He described Elections Alberta’s position this way: “Elections Alberta simply said, ‘OK, starting now, we are going to pivot to become an active third-party advertiser that takes a position on one of the questions on the referendum,’ and now we are entering into a compliance agreement that we will start reporting our revenues.”

In the reporting period ending Sept. 24, Forever Canadian raised $48,345, the highest amount among advertisers. It again led advertisers the following week, raising $25,775 in new contributions. Lukaszuk said the group would report its earlier financial figures at a later date.

The agreement is the first listed on Elections Alberta’s website since 2024. That year, the United Conservative Party and Alberta New Democratic Party each entered into separate compliance agreements concerning party memberships. The Forever Canadian agreement addresses referendum advertising and related financial reporting.

Based on reporting by Edmonton Journal.