'We need to control the party': a look inside Take Back Alberta's UCP insurgency

David Parker was visibly irritated.

The head of Take Back Alberta had become aware of a little checkmark box on his group's event registration page, asking permission to give supporters' personal information to their local United Conservative Party campaign coordinator.

"We can't be collecting people's information and giving it to campaigns or anything like that," Parker told TBA's other top organizers.

"Right now we've just violated election law. So I'm going to have to report that to Elections Alberta now."

There are some apparent grey zones in rules limiting how registered third-party advertisers like Take Back Alberta can interact with political parties. This was not one.

Elections Alberta prohibits parties and third-party groups from sharing Albertans' personal information.

Benita Pedersen, the group's Edmonton-area director, chimed in. "We'll say it was an error on the Cognito form and we haven't shared anyone's information." "Exactly," colleague Jarrad McCoy agreed.

This was a Zoom video exchange recorded in mid-April and posted on the video-sharing site Rumble. It was chatter between Take Back's leaders before Parker and his team switched to the Zoom event that was intended for a wider audience: a weekly seminar training people how to persuade friends, neighbours and strangers to vote conservative.

The admission of apparent rule-breaking, just as Take Back Alberta was set to give its UCP-friendly advice to activists, highlights the delicate dance this group is bidding to engage in as Alberta's election gets underway. The evident modus operandi: do what you can to re-elect Danielle Smith's UCP government, but don't imperil this group's third-party privileges and ability to engage in the political game as a major pressure organization.

After all, this is no ordinary third-party group in Alberta. It's one that claims to have uniquely set Alberta politics, and especially the UCP, on the path that Parker's group prefers.

Parker and his Take Back group take credit for ditching Jason Kenney as UCP leader and premier, helping elect the more libertarian Danielle Smith as his successor, putting half the governing party's board in the group's "control," and mobilizing new party members to nominate TBA-friendly and more activist UCP candidates.

He's built such an affinity with UCP leader Danielle Smith that the premier attended Parker's small March wedding in the Rockies, the Globe and Mail recently reported. Smith downplayed it, saying: "I've got lots of friends."

But it's clear that between Parker's boasts and the private concerns of more moderate UCP organizers, Take Back is a force with deep influence throughout the party.

And it's intent on preserving and expanding that power, beyond the May 29 election.