VANCOUVER—The Alberta government’s use of an anonymous robocall and text-message survey to gauge public opinion — and figure out how to sway national support in favour of the Trans Mountain pipeline — falls below acceptable standards of transparency, says an independent watchdog.

IntegrityBC’s Dermod Travis said that, in an era where companies like Facebook have allowed users’ data to be collected for use in political campaigns, it’s inexcusable for a government to undertake computer-automated research around a hot-button issue like Trans Mountain without explicitly identifying itself as the interested party. IntegrityBC is a non-partisan non-profit organization that advocates for increased government transparency and oversight.

“A government, in particular, should be setting the standard (for transparency) rather than hiding behind rules and regulations and interpretations,” Travis said.

And while he’s unsure whether conducting an anonymous robocall survey violates federal or provincial regulations, Travis said doing so in an environment of heightened fears around online and telecommunication privacy should be a public concern.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) could not be reached for comment on whether the robocall violated federal regulations.

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The robocall, beamed out across the country, purports to be conducting a survey on behalf of “Tell City Hall.” Respondents who agree to participate receive a text message with a link to an online survey on whether they approve of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, and how any concerns might be alleviated.

The website associated with the survey — TellCityHall.ca — gives no indication of the party on whose behalf it is operating.

An investigation by StarMetro found it is run by Advanis Inc., a Canadian marketing and social research firm. An Advanis spokesperson said the Trans Mountain survey is being conducted for the Alberta government — which was later confirmed by David Sands, director of cross-ministry initiatives for the Alberta government’s department of communications and public engagement.

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Alberta Premier Rachel Notley has been a public advocate for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion — a project which was purchased from Texas energy company Kinder Morgan for $4.5 billion by the federal government in May of this year. That same month, Notley announced her government would spend more than a million dollars on a pro-pipeline ad campaign.

Sands told StarMetro the survey was designed to see how messaging around the Trans Mountain project might be tweaked to bring more Canadians on board in support of the expansion. The government is seeking a sample size of about 20,000 people from all over the country, Sands said.

In 2013, the CRTC slapped more than $350,000 in fines on provincial and federal parties and politicians for using robocalls that failed to identify the party responsible for them.

Among the offenders were Alberta’s Wildrose Party, the Ontario Progressive Conservatives, the federal NDP and an Edmonton-based robocalling firm called “Rack Nine.”

Sands said the Alberta government has not, to its knowledge, broken CRTC regulations.

“The Government of Alberta adheres to all applicable laws and guidelines,” he said in an email. “We are not violating CRTC guidelines. We are not telemarketing.”

Andrea Rosen, CEO of regulatory consulting firm Andrea Rosen and Associates and former chief compliance and enforcement officer for the CRTC, told StarMetro the rules governing “automatic dialing announcing devices” (robocalls) prohibit parties from using the technology to contact Canadians for information, solicitation or seeking money, without providing identification and contact information.

And while telemarketers are prohibited from calling Canadians who wish to be removed from call lists, political parties are under no such obligation. They are, however, still required to “obtain prior consent” and identify themselves when using a robocall to solicit Canadians, said Rosen.

“It would be expected that the company engaged for the purposes of survey would identify the client on behalf of whom the calls are being made,” she said. “And if that client was solely the Government of Alberta, then that’s the client to be identified.”

A mailing address and telephone number should generally also be provided, she said.

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But Rosen was cautious not to call the Alberta government’s conduct a violation of CRTC guidelines, saying if she were still with the CRTC, she would need more information from both Advanis and the government to determine whether misconduct had occurred.

After inquiries from StarMetro regarding the legality of the robocall’s failure to identify the Alberta government as the agent, Sands told StarMetro it had done so to avoid biasing results, but an amendment would be made.

“We will … add a line at the end that states we are the sponsor/client,” Sands said.

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