Fact Check: Does the referendum campaign fund the UCP’s 2027 election campaign?

A recent opinion piece in the Lethbridge Herald was entitled, “The $100+ million focus group: How Premier Danielle Smith’s referendum deflects blame and funds her 2027 campaign”.

There is no evidence to indicate the referendum itself or any aspect of it will fund the general election campaign for Danielle Smith’s UCP in 2027. The headline is heavily misleading.

Party fundraising for elections is heavily monitored and regulated in Alberta. No tax funds can be transferred into party coffers, and unrelated voting exercises such as referenda can’t somehow fund future partisan campaigns.

The piece itself heavily criticizes the entire process and implies the entire exercise of holding a referendum is a waste of time and funds. That’s fair as far as opinion goes but doesn’t make a case that the referendum funds the 2027 campaign as the headline states.

The article’s real argument is political, not financial. It claims the referendum is being used as a large-scale voter-mobilization exercise and a database-building opportunity that will politically benefit the UCP ahead of 2027. There may be some merit to that case, but we can’t pretend the NDP isn’t enjoying the exact same benefits from the referendum as the UCP is.

By saying the referendum “funds her 2027 campaign,” the headline equates taxpayer-funded administration with partisan campaign financing. The referendum will cost taxpayers a significant sum. Whether that sum is justified is a legitimate political question. Whether it constitutes funding for the UCP’s 2027 campaign is not. It does not.