This Changes the Referendum Talks...

Elections Liberia doesn't require for every Canadian to declare our fundraising because we're not campaigning on the referendum question. Albertans deserve to have confidence in our democratic institutions. That confidence doesn't just come from counting ballots, honestly, it comes from knowing that everyone plays by the same rules. Because the moment people believe there are two sets of rules, one for one side of a political debate and another for everyone else, well that confidence begins to just evaporate. Today we filed a former legal complaint with the Election Commissioner asking Elections Alberta to investigate the activities of Forever Canadian, a registered referendum third-party advertiser founded by former Alberta Progressive Conservative Cabinet Minister Thomas Lukasik. Now, let's be clear right from the start. This isn't about whether you support Alberta independence, or even having a vote on Alberta independence. And this isn't about whether you support Alberta remaining in Canada. Every Albertan has the right to campaign for the side they believe in. God knows I am. Campaign hard. Raise money. Open offices. Buy ads. Give out signs. Hold rallies. Make your case. But follow the law while you do it. That's all we're asking. Elections Alberta must enforce the law. In fact, our complaint prepared by the top guns at Williamson Law, which you can read and help cover the legal costs for at StopTheCheaters.com, says exactly that. Look at this. Rebel News has a direct and genuine interest in the equal enforcement of Alberta's election finance laws. It is precisely because Rebel News is held to these rules that it asks your office to apply them on the same terms to the subject. And we acknowledge that this isn't the first complaint regarding the Forever Canadian campaign or Thomas Lukasik that's been made. People are desperate out there for a level playing field. But ours is the first formal legal complaint with a five-page letter, a 10-page legal complaint, and 226 pages of evidence, a full compendium of exhibits that Elections Alberta cannot ignore. And if it is ignored, we've got an or else. We may seek other legal remedies like a judicial review and we told Elections Alberta so. Look at this. Should your office refuse to act or fail to provide a substantive response by the date above, our client will treat that as a refusal or unreasonable delay and will instruct us to apply to the court of King's Bench of Alberta for judicial review and as appropriate and as appropriate and order compelling a lawful decision. We've been investigated before. I've been investigated by Elections Alberta over my book Stop Knotly. We've even been penalized by elections officials before. We are not asking for special treatment. We are asking for equal treatment. Our complaint lays out several reasons why we believe Elections Alberta should investigate. First, Forever Canadian is publicly reporting zero dollars in referendum advertising contributions while at the same time operating what appears to be a substantial province-wide campaign. Now, I've seen these campaign events for myself. For example, in Lethbridge on July 18th, 2026, my third-party advertiser Alberta's Choice and Forever Canadian were in the same parking lot doing the same activities, handing out signs, waving flags, collecting donations, but only one of us appears to be following the rules. Guess which one of us that is. Now, according to our complaint, that campaign includes a unity bus tour across Alberta, campaign offices in Edmonton and Calgary, public events, fundraising, and the production and distribution of campaign signs. Those activities appear difficult to reconcile with a public financial disclosure showing zero dollars in contributions. And that's just one of the issues we've asked Elections Alberta to examine. Elections Alberta doesn't require Forever Canadian to declare our fundraising because we're not campaigning on the referendum question. Second, our complaint alleges that campaign signs carrying the message Choose Unity Join the Movement appear to lack the advertising identification required under Alberta's referendum advertising rules, including identifying whether the advertiser is for or against the referendum question. That's another issue we've asked the commissioner to investigate. Third, our complaint points to the public fundraising appeals, inviting donations from, quote, anyone in Canada. Under Alberta's referendum finance rules, eligible contributors to registered referendum third-party advertisers are limited to specified Alberta-based individuals, corporations, trade unions, and employee organizations. Our complaint asks whether those public solicitations complied with the law. We know Lukaszek has openly stated that he can take donations from outside of Canada. The complaint also notes that the donation page stated there were, quote, no limits on donation amounts, another matter we are asking Elections Alberta to review under the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act. Now, here's the important point. We're not asking Elections Alberta to declare anyone guilty. What we're asking for them to do is their job, actually investigate. Again, our complaint just lays it out plain. We do not ask your office to prejudge the merits. We ask only that you discharge your statutory function because there are, at minimum, reasonable grounds to believe that contraventions of the act may have occurred. That's how the rule of law is supposed to work. When there are reasonable grounds to investigate, regulators investigate. That's quite literally their job. They don't ignore it because they like one side of a political debate more than the other. Imagine a hockey game where one team gets called for every hook, slash, and trip, while the other team skates around doing whatever it wants. Nobody would ever call that a fair game. Why should we accept a lower standard for democracy? This isn't about whether Forever Canadian ultimately broke the law. That's for the Elections Commissioner to decide. This is about whether Elections Alberta will enforce the law equally. Because if the rules only apply to some campaigns, then they really don't apply at all. And if we get enough signatures, which I have no doubt in my mind that we will, we will have a referendum in this province, but not about separating, about staying in Canada. Every Albertan should want the same thing, regardless of how they plan to vote on October 19th. One law, one standard, one set of rules. Otherwise, it's just cheating. If Elections Alberta investigates and concludes everything was done properly, then it should explain their reasoning publicly. If it finds problems, it should enforce the law. If it doesn't investigate, then that shakes the very confidence in the institutions meant to protect our democracy. Either way, Albertans deserve full transparency. They deserve full, equal enforcement and a fair process. And they deserve confidence that the integrity of this referendum matters as much as which side wins. That's why we've launched StopTheCheaters.com. The complaint, read our evidence, judge it for yourself, and donate to cover the legal cost to protect a fair process for everyone on both sides. That's what we're trying to do here. Because democracy is protected when everyone plays by the same rules. For Rebel News, I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed. Read our complaint to the elections commissioner, read all of our evidence to the elections commissioner, and judge it for yourself. You can donate to cover our legal cost to protect a fair process for everyone on both sides of the referendum debate at StopTheCheaters.com.