{"id":633666,"date":"2026-04-28T07:48:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T07:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/633666\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T07:48:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T07:48:15","slug":"challenge-filed-about-biased-content-on-alberta-governments-referendum-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/633666\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenge filed about biased content on Alberta government’s referendum website"},"content":{"rendered":"

A pro-immigration group has submitted a complaint to Elections Alberta, claiming the province\u2019s new referendum website wrongfully uses taxpayers\u2019 money to campaign in favour of one side.<\/p>\n

Avnish Nanda, the Edmonton lawyer who helped create the group, called Our Alberta Advantage<\/a>, says the Alberta government website is written in a way to influence yes votes by either misrepresenting situations or leaving out certain information.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat undermines the spirit of democracy,\u201d Nanda told CBC News.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

On the same page, the website lays out immigration questions, including one weighing a provincial fee for non-permanent residents to use the health care and education systems.<\/p>\n

Nanda said this is misleading because it doesn\u2019t include information on how much newcomers pay in taxes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"AAvnish Nanda is an Edmonton lawyer who helped create Our Alberta Advantage, a pro-immigration group that has submitted a complaint to Elections Alberta about the province\u2019s new referendum website. (Sam Samson\/CBC)<\/p>\n

On Oct. 19, Albertans will vote on nine questions dealing with constitutional matters and changes to the immigration system. The referendum questions reflect some of the issues that arose at town halls held across the province last year by the Alberta Next Panel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gov\u2019t changed rules to promote its position<\/p>\n

In a referendum tied to a general election, the provincial government is held to advertising restrictions.<\/p>\n

However, an amendment to Alberta\u2019s Election Act approved one year ago<\/a> changed the rules to remove restrictions on government advertising for a standalone referendum.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Alberta\u2019s Justice minister\u2019s office pointed out the change in a statement to CBC News.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe referendum website was developed to ensure Alberta electors have clear information about the referendums, the questions being asked and what their vote means,\u201d added spokesperson Heather Jenkins.<\/p>\n

“Under the legislation, restrictions on government advertising and publications that would apply to a referendum held in conjunction with a general election or a local authorities election do not apply to a standalone referendum.\u201d <\/p>\n

Still, Nanda said he hopes Elections Alberta will exercise discretion, and apply the same rules across referendums. He called the amendment \u201ca loophole.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was illegal just a few months ago, and for good reason,\u201d Nanda said about the amendment, which took effect in July 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government should never be allowed to put its finger on the scale in elections, whether for MLAs or in referendums,\u201d\u00a0 he added in a statement to CBC News.<\/p>\n

In a news conference last week, Premier Danielle Smith said the website is meant to help voters<\/a> make their own decisions on the nine referendum questions by providing \u201cthe facts in an accessible and relatable way.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also made it clear that the government will openly advocate<\/a> for its position on the questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are clearly policies that we would like to get a mandate from. I’m not neutral in it. I think these are the right policies for Albertans,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

Smith said the government believes Albertans will vote in favour of these questions, which were crafted based on public consultations done last summer through the Alberta Next Panel.<\/p>\n

The government rephrased some of their panel survey questions last summer after members of the public said the questions were slanted and misleading.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlbertans wanted us to build an immigration system that is sustainable, and they wanted us to do more to defend Alberta’s sovereignty within a united Canada. And that’s exactly what we intend to deliver,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Political scientist Lori Williams said it\u2019s normal for governments to pose referendum questions they support. But the information on the website, such as about costs related to newcomers, needs more clarity, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat difference could any of these policies make, because after all, Alberta has invited Canadians from other provinces to come into Alberta. They could also be part of that influence and those costs,\u201d said Williams, an associate professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hope is that the information the government is basing its conclusions on will also be made available for independent assessment. And then that will truly give Albertans enough information to make an informed decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

WATCH | Alberta’s referendum website prompts complaints:\"\"<\/p>\n

Alberta’s referendum website prompts complaints<\/p>\n

An Alberta government website laying out questions \u2014 about immigration and the constitution \u2014 for upcoming referendums is being criticized by some who say it provides one-sided information.Albertan creates parody website<\/p>\n

Within hours of the launch of the government website, an information technology worker in Strathmore, Alta., launched a parody website called \u201cAlberta Referendumb.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephen Elaschuk said the website was a way to express his frustrations with the government\u2019s messaging.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the government is going to do this then and it actually wants to solicit feedback from Albertans, then you can’t just give one side of the story,\u201d he said, with regard to claims of immigration hurting Alberta\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government ran a multi-million dollar ad campaign to bring people to this province. You can’t sit there and say that\u2019s the reason you have to wait so long in an ER. It\u2019s disingenuous and it\u2019s dumb.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of Monday morning, the website had received more than 17,500 views since publishing on Friday, he said.<\/p>\n

\"AStephen Elaschuk created a parody website, called ‘Alberta Referendumb,’ within hours of the province\u2019s site launch. (Sam Samson\/CBC)<\/p>\n

When asked directly about the parody website, the premier\u2019s office directed CBC News to comments made during Thursday\u2019s news conference.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing that we are, as a government, looking to a mandate, it’s entirely appropriate that it would be government resources,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A pro-immigration group has submitted a complaint to Elections Alberta, claiming the province\u2019s new referendum website wrongfully uses…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-633666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}