Maybe we need another inquiry into the Take Back Alberta group which claims to be a “grassroots political movement” supporting the UCP political leadership of Danielle Smith.

Remember former UCP Premier Jason Kenney’s probe into outside interference in Alberta politics by environmental groups? To refresh our memory, this 1M+ (taxpayer financed) publicity stunt failed to find any evidence of outside interference in Alberta politics.

Maybe we need another inquiry into the Take Back Alberta group which claims to be a “grassroots political movement” supporting the UCP political leadership of Danielle Smith. Recently this group was fined $112,500 by elections Alberta for some election irregularities, one of which was “accepting contributions from outside Alberta and Canada” and “circumventing election spending limits” (The Canadian Press, Feb.4, 2025, Lisa Johnson).

Some critical questions.

First, what does “grassroots” mean in this case, when it seems like a chunk of these grassroots is fertilized and watered by sources outside this province and country? Not what comes to mind when I think of “grassroots” even when defined by “populist” elitists.

Second, money spent on political movements comes with a cost one might think, a cost to who actually runs the movement, what political strategies and direction it takes. Money, after all, to be well-spent and provide a return on investment, one suspects, is invested in political movements in order to buy power or political influence. Remember the loyal billionaires at Trump’s recent inauguration?

Third, are these “outside” contributions anything like those discovered to come from US contributors who helped finance the Ottawa convoy? To answer these questions, maybe the people of Alberta need something other than a Kenney show probe publicity stunt. Is it time for a judicial inquiry into possible influence and interference by these “outsiders” identified by Alberta elections?

Democracy demands a real inquiry (not one stacked with UPC/Reform/Wildrose old boys!) to ensure full and open honest political transparency and political fairness without any outside political interference.  

Credit to Jim Gough