A campaign to put up lawn signs in support of Alberta's health-care workers seems like it should be a feel-good story in troubled times, but the rollout of the campaign and apparent ties to the governing UCP has raised questions about its motivations.

Thank Alberta Health launched last week offering lawn signs for $20 per sign (the price has now gone up to $25) and the promise that all profits would be given to local food banks.

It was heavily promoted on social media by conservative politicians and insiders. Its Instagram account had almost 900 followers upon launch, almost all of which were obvious fake accounts or bots.

None of it escaped the scrutiny of the highly charged political corners of social media, with many questioning what defined a "profit" and why so much personal information was collected by the website prior to users finding out how much a sign cost.

But the two people behind the campaign say their motivations are pure and they are surprised by the scrutiny and negativity.

The couple behind the signs

Phillip Schuman is a former UCP nomination candidate who was caught trying to help fund a right wing Instagram group that posted Nazi memes, but denied knowledge of the problematic content. His wife, Tanya Schuman, is a fourth-year medical student who plans to go into family medicine in Alberta.

"About two weeks ago, my father — he is totally blind — he took a fall and hurt himself in a train station," said Phillip of what started this idea.

"And this one night, he calls me from the hospital and he's shedding tears, you know, you can hear it in his voice and he's saying to me, Philip, they're treating me so well, they're treating me so well."

Since then, of course, the pandemic that was just starting to come into view has ramped up in Alberta and now there are regular cheers for health-care workers echoing from balconies and yards each night.

"So this was something that we never thought would ever be looked into because our intentions were kind of very genuine," said Tanya.

Philip Schuman and his wife Tanya are the two people behind a lawn sign campaign. (Facebook)

But alongside the pandemic are changes to the way doctors bill the province — unilateral changes imposed on the Alberta Medical Association by the governing UCP.

Nurses have been given a reprieve but could face funding cuts after the pandemic passes. There are reports of the health minister accosting a doctor on his driveway.

There is, it's fair to say, political tension in the air when it comes to health care.

Beyond altruism

So the optics of a would-be UCP candidate selling signs in support of health-care workers with the social media support from conservative insiders was problematic for many.

Zain Velji is a political strategist who has run several campaigns, including Mayor Naheed Nenshi's campaign, and worked on the 2019 NDP campaign.

He said looking at it through his political lens, there could be three possible motivations for the campaign beyond altruism: changing the political narrative, making a profit, collecting personal information to build a database.

He says it's no surprise to those who follow politics in the province that the initiative was being hyped by those in conservative political circles.

Zain Velji is a campaign strategist and political analyst. (Submitted bv Zain Velji)

"So to have them own a narrative on health care, where they can just shift the narrative toward thanking health-care workers, rather than talking about some of the gripes that health-care workers, especially front-line health-care workers in this province, have with that government, could be part of it," he said.

"It would maybe help shift the narrative from 'let's stop talking about how much doctors do or do not get paid and let's start thanking them because now's not the time."

The value of data

There's also the immensely valuable personal information the campaign is collecting in order to deliver the signs — emails, phone numbers, addresses and names.

"Well, the first thing that could happen is, you know, what happens in many campaigns is that lists get shared," said Velji.

"So you have a bunch of people on the list now that effectively have, you know, signalled not just with their data, but with their dollar, that they have an interest in health care."

That list could be used for targeted campaigns and to solicit donations for other initiatives, like opposing certain health policies, or for political parties.

"I can't tell you exactly what's going on, but we're looking at some of the players who've been first movers on this. It seems like it does have a bit of a partisan stripe associated with it as well."

Ann Cavoukian is the former privacy commissioner for Ontario and founder of Global Privacy and Security by Design. She expressed concerns about the lack of any opt-out mechanism for the use of personal information and any transparency on the site about who was behind the initiative.

Couple defends campaign

The Schumans say there are no ties between the campaign and the UCP, that this was simply a personal initiative to thank health workers.

They said the website terms and conditions were lifted from another site and likely contributed to the confusion. After speaking with CBC News, they amended those terms to say no money would end up in their pockets.

The website also now shows ordering information and the cost of signs on the same page where donors put down their personal information.

Please do not let political stripes derail what was meant to be uplifting & charitable. My husband, Philip once ran for the UCP, that was years ago. He is now a husband to a medical student, a supporter of Family Doctors. He has a vision for a strong community during these times <a href="https://t.co/gSqWqJviDV">pic.twitter.com/gSqWqJviDV</a> —@thankABhealth

Tanya Schuman pointed to a new Twitter post that identifies her and Phillip as the two people behind the initiative, but that information is not posted on the website.

There is also still no guarantee that personal information will be deleted or won't be passed off to another organization. There is no guarantee that money donated will go where it is promised.

Thank Alberta Health is not a registered not for profit, nor a charity.

Phillip says the reason the campaign was hyped by conservative insiders online is because when he started the Facebook page he invited all of his friends to like and to share the initiative.

"I mean, just by nature of being around it doesn't matter what level of politics you are, if you volunteer on one campaign, you're going to end up with a ton of political Facebook friends, right?"

And all those bot accounts that followed the group on Instagram? Phillip says they sent the person who helped them build the website then sought out followers on some unknown website and it got out of control.

So far the campaign has been busy and has almost run out of signs from its initial order of 400. The Schumans say they can barely keep up with it all. They insist they are not turning a profit from the sales.

Tanya and Philip say at this point they 're not sure if they'll order another batch of signs given the negative publicity around the campaign and will wait to see if that changes.