A deeper dive into Calgary’s Third Party Advertiser (TPA) disclosures from the 2021 Calgary municipal election shows a distinct divide between corporate and union contributions – and all the rest.

That’s an aspect that was a virtual certainty when donations to municipal candidates from those entities were first banned back in 2015, according to a Calgary political scientist.

At the time, then-NDP Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley said those rules would put “power back in the hands of Alberta citizens rather than those with the deepest pockets…”

Initially, TPA disclosure data was provided to LiveWire Calgary after a Freedom of Information and Privacy (FOIP) request was made in 2022.  Much of the donor information was redacted from that disclosure. Other Calgary media received similar redactions on their requests. 

Recently, after an appeal was filed by the CBC 18 months ago, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner in Alberta ruled that the City of Calgary improperly withheld much of the donor information. As a result, the LWC FOIP request was reprocessed and it returned the unredacted results (190 pages).

The data shows that the biggest volume contributors were both unions and corporations.

Third party advertising spending displaced from prior election spending

That’s not surprising, according to University of Calgary political scientist Lisa Young. She said that even though the ban was in place on for candidates and parties, it doesn’t mean the money goes away.

“It's displaced into third-party spending unless you also put parameters around third-party spending,” she said.

“So, it's not surprising that the money was displaced and found its way into the third-party space.”

What did surprise Young was that unions outpaced corporations in donations almost three to one.

“The thing that really struck me here, now that we see, formally, the source of that, is the seeming disparity between the amounts contributed by unions versus corporations, which isn't what you normally see,” she said.

Until the start of 2021, in Alberta, there was no cap on union or corporate donations to third-party advertisers.

The United Conservative Party passed Bill 45, the Local Authorities Election Amendment Act, in December 2020, bringing into force on January 1, 2021 limits of $30,000 by any individual, organization, corporation, or union.

A ThinkHQ poll released in September of 2021, found that only 16 per cent of Calgarians were aware of the changes found in Bill 45. Approximately 40 per cent said they "had heard something about it," while 45 per cent of Calgarians were unaware.

That same poll found that a plurality of Calgarians disapproved of the largest TPA, Calgary's Future (at 45 per cent), but also found that just over 70 per cent were unaware of the advertiser.

More of this story below this chart of the sum of donations made by date during the municipal election. A list of all TPA donors over $250 can be found at the bottom of this story.

Donor disclosed… what about who they support?

The full FOIP results show donors that provided donations of more than $250 to TPAs, except Fluoride Yes, which also disclosed individuals who made contributions of less than $250.

The data does show, in most cases, where the money was deployed (advertising, marketing, etc), but doesn’t often show for whom.

One of the candidates who is disclosed in the information is Ward 12 Coun. Evan Spencer. The TPA Look Forward Calgary disclosure did show that the money they raised was used to raise awareness for him, Jasmine Mian, and unsuccessful Ward 13 candidate, Jay Unsworth.

It’s worth noting that TPA cash cannot be given directly to support a campaign, and campaigns, under law, can’t collude with TPAs to help fund campaign activities.  

It can, however, be used to raise awareness or demonstrate support for a certain candidate or candidates on an issue or issues.

Spencer said one of the first social media ads with his image on it was done by Look Forward Calgary. He doesn’t believe we need to go as far as disclosing who the money was specifically spent to support – especially because it can be pretty apparent.

“I would think that that's transparent right from the get-go, whether it's through print, or signage, media, door-knocking support or any other number of things,” Spencer told LiveWire Calgary.

“The people that are donating to these organizations supporting these organizations like that, that becomes pretty clear pretty quick, who they support and who they're putting money behind.”

The Local Authorities Election Act requires that TPAs sponsoring election advertising must include the TPA's name and contact information to comply with the election law.

Young quoted a US Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance to summate her thoughts on how much information should be disclosed to voters before election day.

“…Sunshine is the best disinfectant; that an organization can’t exert undue influence over a candidate or an elected official if the financial support for that elected official is out in the open,” she said.

“This means that the media can draw the connections, that citizens can draw connections and that they can then hold the elected official accountable.”

Timelines for disclosure of data

Spencer said that he’s fine with TPA donor data being disclosed earlier.

“I would imagine having that in greater detail in terms of who exactly is donating to who and how much would create a better public discourse, potentially, and lead to better-informed voters,” he said.

The worry he has, however, is how that information is weaponized to discredit otherwise quality candidates.

“It would potentially just feed that group, the us-versus-them. There's this group doing this kind of thing and they're the enemy and they have various motivations,” Coun. Spencer said.

“We're increasingly taught to think that if somebody doesn't think like us, it’s a negative. So, it would – it could – potentially further pour gas on that flame.”

Young said there was no reason for the 18-month timeline to have this information revealed.

“There’s no reason it should require the media to take the kinds of actions they had to to get this information,” she said.

“It should be in the public sphere, and it should be in the public sphere right away so that we can understand what's going on here.”

Young said she believes the elimination of union and corporate donations to TPAs would align with most voters' values. She said it doesn’t have to be inevitable for union and corporate donations to be funneled through TPAs.

“It would be entirely possible to pass legislation that said that only individuals can give money to third-party advertisers – that unions can't and that corporations can’t,” she said. 

Aside from that, you could limit how much a TPA could spend, Young said. Or, just make the whole process more transparent.

“It's a reasonable thing in a democratic system for voters to know who's spending money during an election,” Young said.