Brett McKay

Companies and PR firms that are actively lobbying Alberta’s government made dozens of donations to the United Conservative Party after the province ended a ban on corporate political contributions last year. Read our investigation.


zurl.co/E79jm

PR firms and lobbyists gave thousands to UCP in 2025 Donations to Alberta’s governing party raise questions about influence and conflict of interest

PR firms and lobbyists gave thousands to UCP in 2025.

Donations to Alberta’s governing party raise questions about influence and conflict of interest.

theijf.org/article/pr-f...

Tourmaline Oil Corp. and Enbridge are lobbying Alberta’s government for changes to how oil and gas companies’ property is taxed by municipalities.

zurl.co/wvyr4

Pro-Life Alberta, the province’s anti-abortion political party, received over half a million dollars in donations in 2025, out-fundraising the Green Party, the Alberta Liberals and newcomers like the Republican Party of Alberta.

zurl.co/3Fll2

Blood in the water: Canadians implicated in Op. Southern Spear Exposing the flimsy legal shield protecting Canadians who are likely involved in the U.S. military’s Op. Southern Spear - and the hard questions Ottawa hasn’t answered.

"When it comes to Op. Southern Spear, the legal loopholes Ottawa hides behind may not be enough to wash the blood off our hands."

My latest: a long-form context and analysis piece.

substack.com/@thestateoft...

How political influencers avoid election rules, transparency and consequences ‘We actually have a worse dark money problem in Canada than they do in the U.S.’

How political influencers avoid election rules, transparency and consequences
‘We actually have a worse dark money problem in Canada than they do in the U.S.’
theijf.org/article/how-...

Here's another sneak preview of Alberta's budget.
Approval for $40 billion in borrowing; yes you read that right 40 BILLION.
New Order in Council signed today.
#abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli

How Right-Wing Political Influencers Dodged Election Spending Rules | The Tyee ‘We actually have a worse dark money problem in Canada than they do in the US.’

Months after Canada’s election, the funding sources for some third-party advertisers remain a mystery.

Experts say the political influencers are increasingly finding ways to sidestep advertising regulations, and in some cases strategically choosing non-compliance. @brettmckay.bsky.social reports.

The long-ballot committee opponents must be beside themselves, right?

Right?

How political influencers avoid election rules, transparency and consequences ‘We actually have a worse dark money problem in Canada than they do in the U.S.’

How political influencers avoid election rules, transparency and consequences
‘We actually have a worse dark money problem in Canada than they do in the U.S.’
theijf.org/article/how-...

As the right-wing meme page Canada Proud was posting calls to "DEFUND THE CBC," the same PR firm behind it was being indirectly funded by CBC journalists’ own union dues.

Yeah. And that's not all.

So I’m teaming up with my friends at @nationalobserver.com to tell you all about it:

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that ChatGPT conversations from the Tumbler Ridge teenager who carried out a horrific school shooting were flagged by employees at OpenAI.

They raised their concerns but the company ultimately did nothing, according to the reporting. archive.is/GUweE#select...

How political influencers avoid election rules, transparency and consequences ‘We actually have a worse dark money problem in Canada than they do in the U.S.’

Via @brettmckay.bsky.social How political influencers avoid election rules, transparency and consequences: theijf.org/article/how-...

In addition to promoting entertainment, X's feed algorithm tends to push more conservative content to users' feeds. Seven weeks of exposure to such content in 2023 shifted users' political opinions in a more conservative direction, particularly with regard to policy priorities, perceptions of the criminal investigations into Trump and views on the war in Ukraine. The effect is asymmetric: switching the algorithm on influenced political views, but switching it off did not reverse users' perspectives on policy priorities or current political issues.

We show that exposure to algorithmically curated content led users to follow conservative activist accounts. In contrast, when the algorithmic feed was switched off, users continued to follow the accounts they had engaged with previously. This indicates that exposure to feed algorithms has a lasting impact on users' feeds and their political attitudes.

This is a very interesting new paper in Nature about the role that feed algorithms on X play in influencing political attitudes.

No paywall: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Province broke its own access to information laws in withholding Alberta Next survey results The Alberta government wrongly withheld hundreds of pages of results from its Alberta Next surveys an adjudicator has ruled.

Last week, I learned an adjudicator had sided with me in 5 inquiries re: the province refusing to release results of its Alberta Next surveys

GOA published the multiple choice results in Dec but has been ordered to give me 213 pages of open-answer replies that haven't yet been shared
#ableg #abpoli

Alberta government hiding additional drug jail plans Newly obtained documents reveal a hidden plan to build a drug jail in Grande Prairie, raising questions about how many additional facilities are in the works.

The Alberta government has repeatedly insisted that its drug jails (“secure care” Compassionate Intervention facilities) will be only a measure of last resort.

But this finding suggests they have bigger plans — apparently, space for 300 adults won’t be enough.
drugdatadecoded.ca/alberta-gove...

Whenever I've written about oil and gas property tax arrears in the past, people emailed me asking why I didn't name the companies. The answer is that this information wasn't public and difficult to obtain. With this story we're releasing the tax debts of hundreds of companies /1
zurl.co/O1gMZ

Alberta probes why firms in tax arrears got new well licences Documents show some companies with large tax arrears were still approved to acquire new well licences, raising questions about how provincial rules are enforced.

It will take more than a report called Alberta’s Mature Asset Strategy to tackle the massive problem of hundreds of insolvent oil companies holding over 35,000 well, facility, and pipeline licenses.

Where’s the Regulator?

www.lakelandtoday.ca/the-latest/s....

Carney’s government is cutting hundreds of environment and science jobs. Here’s what that means for Canadians | CBC Radio Scientists and labour leaders are warning that cuts to Environment and Climate Change Canada could significantly impact the health and safety of Canadians as well as Canada's wildlife and environment.

The Carney LPC government and the Harper CPC government have this in common …

www.cbc.ca/radio/whaton...

Our joint investigation with TVO takes you inside social media hubs for the sale and promotion of unproven health products, including some claiming to treat or even cure autism. The Facebook group "OSR cream for autism" has left one mother horrified. Read more:


zurl.co/TsrZ0

If you're in Ontario, please tune into TVO on Sunday night for our story about unproven and potentially dangerous autism "treatments" and "cures" being sold all over Facebook.

The story will be on YouTube as well for the rest of us!

Edmonton-based Stantec cancels ICE facility contract after backlash An Edmonton-based engineering and professional services company has pulled out of contracts with ICE after heavy backlash

Edmonton-based Stantec cancels ICE facility contract after backlash

edmontonjournal.com/business/edm...

Canadian Bar Association speaks out against Smith's judicial appointment demands EDMONTON - A group that speaks for more than 5,000 lawyers, judges and others in the legal system says Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is trying to fix something that isn’t

The fallout of Alberta Premier Smith’s call for judicial appointment reform continued today with the Canadian Bar Association saying Smith’s solution wasn’t constitutional.

From @reportrix.bsky.social with a lil add on from me today:

www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/politics/can...

The data comes from the Government of Alberta, and accounts for millions of dollars of unpaid taxes owed to communities throughout the province. Use the embedded graphics to search your location and see which companies owed your local gov't in the last reporting period. 2/

Civil Liberties Organizations Raise Concerns Over Alberta Funding Decision - CCLA

BCCLA, CCLA, and the Ligue des droits et libertés have written a letter asking the Alberta Minister of Justice to reconsider the decision to deny funding to the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre (ACLRC).

Read more here.
ccla.org/fundamental-...

The Franklin Fire sends a plume of smoke into the sky in December 2024 in Malibu, Calif.

Study ties particle pollution from wildfire smoke to 24,100 U.S. deaths per year https://www.statnews.com/2026/02/04/particle-pollution-wildfire-smoke-deaths-study/

⤷ canadahealthwatch.ca/featured 🍁

I can think of one way Alberta's legal system is distinct:
"2 Alberta judges under investigation after IJF reveals evidence of donations to UCP"
theijf.org/article/albe...

Ottawa releases findings from AI task force and public consultation | BetaKit The government used AI to parse more than 11,000 submissions that will inform Canada’s new AI strategy.

"The government says that it used multiple AI tools to interpret the data ... However, the results appear as sweeping takeaways and do not cite any weighting of the data nor specific sources."

from @alexriehl.com

Alberta legislation could pave way for two-tiered health-care system, new report says | CBC News A report that was jointly produced by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Parkland Institute finds Alberta's Bill 11 could pave the way for a two-tiered health-care system.

Alberta legislation could pave way for two-tiered health-care system, new report says

#abpoli #ableg

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...