Alberta Municipal Affairs clarified rules around political parties, new for the 2025 Calgary municipal election, after one group is alleged to have offered gift cards and prizes for party signatures.

The questions sent to the ministry came after the A Better Calgary Party (ABC) allegedly offered a “signature promotion,” where $10 gift cards for Angels Cafe were offered for pages of signatures for the party registration to be turned in between Jan. 24 and Jan. 31.

Minister Ric McIver, in response to questions sent by LiveWire Calgary, clarified that remuneration, including gift cards and prize giveaways, were banned for municipal parties before they have been officially recognized as a registered party.

“We recognize that the regulation that lays out the rules for Local Political Parties (LPPs) is still very new, and LPPs formally organizing for the first time may need clarity around what is authorized within the legislation,” said Minister McIver.

“As set out under the Local Political Parties and Slates regulation, LPPs or a person acting on behalf of the party cannot accept a contribution or incur a campaign expense unless the party is registered, therefore this is not permitted.”

He said that acquiring gift cards or prizes for distribution would be classified as incurring an expense, which was not permitted before a party was registered.

ABC is not yet registered, according to the Elections Calgary website.

“Acquiring gift cards or prizes for distribution would either be considered incurring an expense, if purchased by the proposed LPP, or accepting a contribution, if donated to the proposed LPP,” read the email statement from Minister McIver’s office.

“The Provincial Elections Commissioner is responsible for investigating any formal complaints about local election campaign financing, and the administration of any enforcement measures.”

Offers allegedly made to give gift cards for signed pages for ABC

A web page archived from A Better Calgary Party, on Friday, Jan. 24, indicated to viewers of that page that the party was allegedly offering prizes for completed signature pages.

“We are going hot after those 1000 signatures so we are running a promotion. The weather is warm and it is a great time to get out and hit the streets this weekend to do some door knocking. Many of our Ward Boards have stepped up and committed to 10 signatures each this week and now we are turning to you, our awesome members to bring in the difference,” the website read.

“So, to get this done, The Calgary Business Network has partnered with Angel’s Cafe to bring you the Page for 10 rewards, but it is only on this week. From today January 24th to January 31st we will give a $10 Angel’s Cafe gift certificate for a full sheet of signatures that is filled out with readable signatures and member information. Take your filled out sheets to Angel’s Cafe to the till and turn them in at any time this week, or turn them in at one of our other events or locations.”

The page indicated that gift cards would be given per page of seven signatures, up to $30 in gift cards.

“We will also offer a $200 Spa Day Reward to the person who brings in the most from January 24th to 31st,” said the page.

That page was originally accessed at www.abettercalgaryparty.ca/collect_signatures_here, and was archived by the Internet Archive at web.archive.org/web/20250125061157/https://www.abettercalgaryparty.ca/collect_signatures_here and through archive.today at archive.is/yF1aB.

When contacted by LiveWire Calgary, Kerry George, Vice President of Communications for A Better Calgary Party said that the party appreciated being informed that the issue had been brought to the party’s attention.

“No rewards are being offered for signatures by A Better Calgary Party. Our only reward is removing Gondek and the 8 who vote with her continuously from office, and will be a significant reward in itself.”

As of the evening of Tuesday, Jan. 28, after questions were sent to A Better Calgary Party by LiveWire Calgary, www.abettercalgaryparty.ca/collect_signatures_here no longer had the “signature promotion” on that web page.

It read, in full, “the whole city get’s rewarded when we are free of Gondek and other union supported candidates (Thiessen). We can all enjoy more peace of mind as common sense conservatives work together. To bring us Councillors who actually care about the people in their Wards.”

Questions sent to the A Better Calgary Party by LWC as to whether any gift cards had been handed out, or if they were aware of the rules outlined in the Local Political Parties and Slates Regulation Act were not directly addressed.

Act not so cut and dry on who handles enforcement of issues

The issue of remuneration for municipal political parties was a complex one, with multiple requests sent to both the City of Calgary and the Government of Alberta and Elections Alberta for clarification.

Who exactly enforces the rules around the new municipal parties, was also equally unclear.

A statement provided by the City of Calgary said that questions regarding whether gift cards and prizes were allowed for parties would be best referred to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs.

“Local political parties are governed by the Local Political Parties and Slates Regulation (A.R. 172/2024). A.R., 172/2024 does not provide a role for the Returning Officer regarding a local political party’s collection of elector signatures,” read the statement.

Similarly, questions sent to Elections Alberta were referred back to the City of Calgary and Elections Calgary.

“For Local Authority Elections, Elections Alberta has jurisdiction over Parts 5.1 and 8 of the Local Authorities Election Act only. Issues associated with Parties and Slates are covered in Part 7, in addition to the Local Political Parties and Slates Regulation,” they said.

Under Part 7 of the act, the legislation states that “no slate and no person acting on behalf of a slate shall incur a shared campaign expense unless the slate is registered in accordance with this Regulation.”

According to municipal party rules, 1,000 names, addresses and signatures eligible to vote in a jurisdiction, who are members of the party and request the party be formed must be collected.

The deadline for party or slate registration is July 24, 2025.

Calgary’s municipal election is Oct. 20, 2025.