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 TPAs; Political, Election, Senate, Referendum, Recall, and Initiative Petition as follows:

• • • 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 spend or plan to spend $1,000 or more in advertising. They must maintain up-to-date registration information and submit regular 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 includes establishing each TPA separately, including the creation of separate financial accounts for each. Contact us to learn more.

Who Can Register?

The table below shows who can register as a Political TPA or an Election TPA:

Affiliated Third Parties

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

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

1. 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;
2. Any interactions or agreements between the third party and the registered that may indicate that the third party is under the control of the registered party;
3. 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
4. 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;
5. 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:

• What advertising the TPA will be engaging in: political, election, Senate, or referendum
• The name and contact information of the persons who are the principal officers, principal members, and/or signing authorities for the TPA
• The address and telephone number, in Alberta or Canada, where the records of the TPA are maintained and where communications may be addressed
• The name, address, and contact information of the chief financial officer responsible for the advertising account of the TPA
• The name and address of the financial institution that will be used along with names of the signing authorities on the account

Name Restrictions

A TPA will not be allowed to register if its proposed name or abbreviation of the name:

• resembles the name of a registered TPA, candidate, political party, or political organization active in Alberta (of which is likely to cause confusion), or
• resembles the name of a political party or TPA that was cancelled or changed since the last general election.