A day after being fined more than $120,000, the leader of the conservative political group Take Back Alberta is firing back at Elections Alberta.
“I could take Elections Alberta to court, I could take the provincial government to court, I could just not pay them, like many of the people who’ve been fined over the years,” David Parker told CityNews.
Elections Alberta alleges Parker and TBA failed to keep proper records, did not report fundraising money, and lied to the chief electoral officer.
RELATED: Third-party advertiser Take Back Alberta fined more than $100K by Elections Alberta
Take Back Alberta is a registered third-party advertiser but Parker says the fines are related to what he considers grassroots meetings.
“There’s a fundamental disagreement between myself and Elections Alberta about whether or not the meetings are elections advertising. And I refused to say that they are,” he said.
Elections Alberta does not comment publicly on investigations and does not share copies of its reports.
The fines, which also include personal penalties against Take Back Alberta officials including Parker, total more than $122,000, already making 2025 the highest of any year since 2019.
A $13,500 fine against TBA is for accepting donations outside of Alberta and Canada.
“Yes, okay, we did receive $500 from outside of Alberta. Totally, and by the way, those five (people) were reimbursed when it was discovered that they were from America,” Parker said.
Parker claims another donor of $7,500 is an Albertan but made the contribution from a U.S. bank account.
Take Back Alberta rose to prominence in 2022 when it rallied support to oust then-premier Jason Kenney.
The group also supported Danielle Smith during her UCP leadership run, but Parker says he no longer has a relationship with the premier and she wasn’t involved in the allegations.
CityNews asked the premier’s office for a statement on the fines and to clarify whether or not she knew about the alleged offences or benefitted from them in any way, but her office did not respond.
Given Take Back Alberta’s ties to the UCP, political scientist Lori Williams believes Smith should speak to the investigation.
“It is unusual and it is a large fine,” Williams told CityNews.
“Danielle Smith has already said there is some distance between her and David Parker. I don’t think it would hurt to clarify the nature of that distance. And I don’t think it would be bad for her to say, ‘Look Elections Alberta is an independent agency.’”
The Alberta NDP called on Smith to condemn the activities of Take Back Alberta and to commit to refuse any future support from the group.
“The rulings from Alberta’s Chief Electoral Officer paint a shocking picture of illegal activity undertaken by one of Premier Danielle Smith’s top organizers before, during, and since the 2023 Alberta provincial election,” deputy leader Rakhi Pancholi wrote in a statement.
“David Parker and Take Back Alberta, openly supported Danielle Smith’s leadership campaign, campaigned for UCP candidates, trained doorknockers, and spent years trying to hide from Alberta’s election laws.”
Parker has no intention to step back from politics and says his group will be promoting candidates in upcoming school board elections.
“It’s just a witch hunt. It’s lawfare. We’ve seen this happening in the States. People don’t want me involved in politics. I’m controversial, I say what I believe, and a lot of people don’t like that,” Parker said of the fines.
Still, if a court rules Take Back Alberta must pay the fines, Parker says he will because he’s not interested in going to jail.