Third Party Advertisers

A third party advertiser (TPA) is an individual person, corporation, trade union or group who advertises to promote or oppose a registered political participant.

There are six types of third party advertising: Political, Election, Senate, Referendum, Recall, and Initiative Petition. A brief description of each type is provided below:

• Political – engages in political advertising to promote or oppose a registered party, leader of a registered party, candidate in an MLA election, MLA, nomination contestant, or leadership contestant,
• Election – engages in election advertising to promote or oppose, or take a position on an issue associated with, a registered party or candidate in an MLA election,
• Senate – engages in senate election advertising to promote or oppose, or take a position on an issue associated with, a registered candidate in a Senate election,
• Referendum – engages in referendum advertising to promote or oppose a question in a referendum,
• Initiative Petition – engages in initiative petition advertising to promote or oppose an initiative petition, the legislation, policy or constitutional question proposed by the initiative petition, or the subject-matter of the legislation, policy, or constitutional question,
• Recall – engages in recall advertising to promote or oppose the recall of an MLA whose electoral division is the subject of the recall petition.

Third party advertisers must register with Elections Alberta when they raise or spend, or plan to raise or spend, $1,000 or more on third party advertising. They must maintain up-to-date registration information and submit financial reports to disclose their financial activities.

Third party advertisers may also need to register as more than one type of TPA, depending on their activities. This requires establishing each TPA separately, including the creation of separate financial records and bank accounts. Contact finance@elections.ab.ca with any questions.

Who Can Register?

The table below shows who can register as a TPA:

Affiliated Third Parties

A third party that is affiliated with a registered party is not qualified to be registered and cannot undertake political advertising or election advertising or accept advertising contributions.

In determining whether a third party is affiliated with a registered party, the Chief Electoral Officer will consider all relevant information including:

• How the third party is organized and whether a person holding any of the following positions with the third party holds the same or a similar position with the registered party:
  • the chief financial officer;
  • a signing officer;
  • if the third party is a group, a principal officer of the group, or if there are no principal officers, a principal member;
  • if the third party has a governing body, a position on the governing body.
• Any interactions or agreements between the third party and the registered party that may indicate the third party is under the control of the registered party;
• The extent to which the third party participates in the decision-making process of the registered party pursuant to the constitution or founding documents of the registered party;
• The activities of the third party, the registered party, and the registered constituency associations and registered candidates of the registered party, including the extent to which the third party has been involved in electoral campaigns or made public statements in support of or in opposition to the registered party, a registered candidate of the registered party, any other registered party, or a registered candidate of any other registered party;
• The political programs, advertising materials and policy statements of the third party or registered party.

How to Register a TPA

A TPA must file an application for registration with Elections Alberta and provide the following:

• Name of the TPA (abbreviation optional),
• Type of third party advertising: political, election, Senate election, referendum, initiative petition, or recall,
• Type of applicant: corporation, trade union, employee organization, group, or person,
• Description of the nature/purpose of the TPA,
• Public contact information for posting on Elections Alberta’s website: phone number, email address, website address (a minimum of one of these),
• Name and contact information of the primary contact,
• If the TPA is a corporation the primary contact must be the officer who has signing authority for it,
• If the TPA is a group, the primary contact must be the principal officer or principal member and a list of all officers or members must be attached with the application,
• Address and telephone number, in Alberta or Canada, where the records of the TPA are maintained and where communications may be addressed,
• Name and contact information of the chief financial officer responsible for the advertising account of the TPA,
• Name and address of the financial institution, and name of signing officer(s), for the advertising bank account, and
• If the TPA has a governing body, attach a copy of the resolution authorizing the third party to incur advertising expenses.

Additional information may be required. Refer to the specific registration application for the third party advertising type.

TPA Name Restrictions

A TPA registration application will not be approved if its proposed name or abbreviation of the name:

• so nearly resembles the name or abbreviation or a nickname of a registered TPA, registered candidate, registered party, or political organization active in Alberta, that confusion is likely, or
• is the same as the name of a registered party or registered TPA whose registration was cancelled or name was changed since the last general election.