01-SEPT-24 UPDATE: The Counter Signal canvassed neighborhoods in Red Deer and spoke to self identified left-wing residents who confirmed that they were approached and pressured into attending the UCP convention in an effort to overthrow Danielle Smith.

A whistleblower has come forward with allegations of an astroturfed campaign to enlist left-wing Albertans to join the governing United Conservative Party in order to remove Premier Danielle Smith from office during her leadership review.

Voters were offered cash reimbursements in exchange for their registration and attendance at the UCP convention in November, under the expectation that they would vote against Danielle Smith in her leadership review as a punishment for her conservative agenda.

Rob Filion was looking for work when he was hired by Canadian Market Surveys, a clandestine organization aimed at recruiting radical LGBTQ2IA+ Albertans to join the UCP. Their operations targeted Red Deer locals, coincidentally those that live in the central Albertan city that is hosting the all-important UCP convention in November. 

“Shady” organization not legally registered with Elections Alberta

Filion described how he was first contacted to participate in what was presented as a neutral survey. The job description, posted by the unidentifiable firm, which is not legally registered as a Third Party Advertiser with Elections Alberta, said that they “aren’t selling knives or vacuum cleaners here, just collecting surveys from members of the public.”

“She had contacted me and asked to set up a Zoom meeting, and I said sure,” Filion recounted.

Despite being paid by Canadian Market Surveys, staff were instructed to lie and say they worked for “Albertans for Democracy in Action.”

The campaign was initially described as an effort to gather public opinion on the amenities and services in Red Deer. However, during their first meeting in a public park with campaign leaders from Calgary, the true nature of the campaign became apparent.

Filion recalled speaking to one operative named “Fletcher,” but received no other identifying information from the two men behind the operation.

Recruiting as many socialists as possible

“When reading over the script, it became clear that it was very left-leaning,” the whistleblower explained. 

The script was designed to identify Albertans who were upset with “Danielle Smith’s plan to implement a policy this fall that would prevent teachers from using children’s preferred pronouns,” along with a handful of other left-wing grievances with the conservative premier. 

Once a sufficiently socialist Albertan was identified by the paid staff, the target was offered $200 in exchange for registering for the UCP convention. 

Despite misgivings, the whistleblower participated in the campaign for one evening. “I had no income at all, so that’s what really kind of gets me too is the fact that they prey upon people who are looking for work,” they explained.

As the door-knocking began, the whistleblower realized that the campaign’s true goal was to sign up left-wing individuals who opposed Danielle Smith by any means necessary. “It seemed like the goal was to get people signed up so that they could go and, you know, vote against Danielle Smith,” the whistleblower said.

Filion reported that he was only able to find one Red Deerian willing to take the deal during his evening of canvassing. He said that others had better luck, but total numbers were held close to the chest of organizers. 

Dark money in politics

The whistleblower also noted that the campaign organizers appeared indifferent to the source of their funding or the legality of their actions. At one point, one of the organizers mentioned that they might “go from the other side” in the future, suggesting that they would target right-wing Albertans who were not sufficiently satisfied with the speed in which Smith was implementing her conservative agenda.

“All they were concerned about was the money. You know, so they were getting money from somewhere obviously to do this, and were paying us $20/hour to do this.”

“It’s all very shady. They said ‘oh no no no we’re non-partisan’ but I’m like, this is so left friggin leaning that it was obvious that this was not good.

Concerns about the legitimacy of the operation also surfaced, with participants questioning whether they would be paid for their time. 

The campaign’s lack of a formal office and the fact that meetings were held in public parks led to further doubts. “Two people left within like half an hour and they just suddenly disappeared,” Filion said. 

Filion emphasized that going public with these concerns was driven by his desire to expose what he saw as an underhanded attempt to manipulate the democratic process. “It seemed as though their goal was to try to remove Danielle Smith, basically by using what kind of people? Anybody that they could get.”

“I didn’t want to be there,” he concluded.