When a government spends public money to advertise for one answer on a ballot it is also responsible for administering fairly, that is worth pausing on regardless of how you plan to vote.
On September 7, 2026, the Neo-Nazis, AfD party won big in a regional election in Germany. Elon Musk congratulated the party (in German) on the result, and in return received “thanks for your support” from the AfD’s lead candidate.
Campaigning for the right wing in 1925: The AfD’s roots go back to Weimar. (Photo: SZ Photo / picture alliance)
The AfD policies are a template of Hitler’s Nazis in the 1930s.
Prominent AfD politician Björn Höcke was convicted and fined for using the banned Nazi paramilitary slogan, “Everything for Germany”. (NOTE: Pete Hegseth, US Secretary of Defence, uses the term, “Everything for America” in his book American Crusade)
So what’s that got to do with Alberta?
New Light
That same day, the Alberta Provincial Government’s Executive Director in Calgary was quick to join in the celebrations.
“Finally, someone on a major stage saying it out loud instead of hiding behind slogans. Shout it from the rooftops please Alice! You can’t run a welfare state, bring in millions who need support and keep energy prices this high without the books blowing up. It’s also tearing up the social fabric and native culture. People are waking up.”
The statement from a key official in the Alberta government puts the October 19th Referendum questions on immigration in a whole new light.
And then on September 10th, Jocelyn told me the Edmonton Journal reported that the UCP government was spending $4 million to convince Albertans to vote Yes to the first nine questions on the October 19 referendum.
I told her she must’ve misunderstood the article because a democratically elected government would not tell citizens how to vote in a referendum.
But sure enough, as I have been in the past, I was wrong.
Edmonton Journal
$4 million to convince Albertans in a referendum to hear how Albertans are thinking that they should think YES is the answer.
Cause for Pause
I gave the government grace that the referendum wasn’t concocted to push an agenda.
That they wanted to hear from Albertans.
That the outcome wouldn’t be rigged.
As the Premier said in her television address on February 19th, “I look forward… to receiving your decision on the questions outlined.”
Her words sounded neutral and objective.
Now, we’re told that YES to the nine questions is THE response Albertans should give.
And taxpayer money is being used to push the government’s preferred answers.
This is a wolf of a government campaign in the sheep’s clothing of a referendum.
I’m certain that’s not good politics and it’s terrible leadership.
Isn’t it reasonable to believe that a government should remain entirely neutral during a public referendum?
Why ask in the first place if YES has always been the promoted answer?
I wrote to my MLA asking, among other things, “What government department budget line the $4 million is drawn from and whether it required legislative approval.”
“The mistake is to assume that rulers who came to power through institutions cannot change or destroy those very institutions.”
― Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
This is not a political post. It’s about something bigger. It’s about the democratic institutions that have safe guarded Canadians and Albertans.
What do you think? Am I missing something? Join the conversation and post a comment below.
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