Challenge filed about biased content on Alberta government's referendum website [View all]

(article is from April 27)

A pro-immigration group has submitted a complaint to Elections Alberta, claiming the province’s new referendum website wrongfully uses taxpayers’ money to campaign in favour of one side.

Avnish Nanda, the Edmonton lawyer who helped create the group, called Our Alberta Advantage, says the Alberta government website is written in a way to influence yes votes by either misrepresenting situations or leaving out certain information.

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As an example, Nanda pointed out that the Alberta Referendum 2026 website notes temporary residents cost Alberta taxpayers more than $1 billion per year in social services.

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“People who work here on work visas, student visas, they pay taxes. They contribute to our economy. They pay for the same services the government now wants to charge more for. So I think that's fundamentally missing from the website,” he said.

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In a referendum tied to a general election, the provincial government is held to advertising restrictions.

However, an amendment to Alberta’s Election Act approved one year ago changed the rules to remove restrictions on government advertising for a standalone referendum.

much more

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-referendum-website-complaint-immigration-9.7178022

This refers to the current referendum questions and does not include the separation question which is still under review by the court.

As noted in the article, Smith and her sycophantic government members deliberately changed the rules so they could deliberately mislead Albertans on their government website regarding the current 9 questions.

I am glad to see this challenge filed as the biases by this government are blatant.