Parker has refused to share Take Back Alberta’s records with Elections Alberta who is investigating the organization’s finances
Contempt of court allegations against Take Back Alberta (TBA) founder David Parker are set to be heard in court this week where Elections Alberta will claim he is refusing to co-operate with its investigation into the activist group.
Court records obtained by Postmedia spell out how Parker is accused of stonewalling Elections Alberta’s efforts since he was informed Take Back Alberta was under investigation in November of last year.
Elections Alberta is looking into if Take Back Alberta broke laws around political and election advertising contributions as well as if Take Back Alberta is affiliated with Alberta’s governing United Conservative Party (UCP), as defined by election financing rules.
Elections Alberta is seeking 19 groups of records including bank statements, donor names, and expense receipts for advertising as well as for Take Back Alberta events, including a May 2023 event in Red Deer featuring Jordan Peterson.
On June 10, Elections Alberta filed a contempt of court application, stating Parker had failed to comply with a notice to produce compelling him to hand over the records.
The case is scheduled to return to court on Monday, court records indicate, where Parker or his representative will be required “to show cause as to why a warrant should not be issued for the respondent and why the respondent should not be held until such time as he undertakes to produce the documents.”
‘Would not provide a copy’
Parker was interviewed by an Elections Alberta investigator on March 22, according to court documents that state he “acknowledged that he had records relating to the activities of Take Back Alberta and records of financial deposits, but that he would not provide a copy of these records.”
On April 11, election commissioner Paula Hale issued Parker a notice to produce, a document outlining the specific records he must provide or risk being found in contempt of court.
A month later, Hale rejected an extension request from Parker’s lawyer Leighton Grey and gave him until the end of May to produce the documents, a deadline he failed to meet.
“You have not provided a reason for this request. This does not appear to be a request made in good faith,” states a letter from Hale to Grey.
“Mr. Parker stated that he had records that related to the activities of Take Back Alberta and also had records of financial deposits; some of them he stated he had in his possession on the day of the interview. Mr. Parker went on to state that he would not provide these financial records to the investigator.”
Elections Alberta does not comment on ongoing investigations but does publish the results when completed.
‘I will not be releasing the names’
Grey told Postmedia he was not at liberty to comment. A request for comment forwarded to Parker via Grey was not returned.
On social media, Parker has stated that releasing Take Back Alberta’s donor list would violate the Elections Act, “since the donors to Take Back Alberta were not donating for political advertising.”
“I will not be releasing the names of our donors so that they can be harassed by left-wing activists,” he posted in March.
Those with close links to Take Back Alberta take up much of the UCP board of directors, and the group takes credit for ousting former premier Jason Kenney.
The UCP and Premier Danielle Smith have denied they take any direction from Parker’s group.
— with files from Bill Kaufmann