Former Redford cabinet minister Thomas Lukaszuk has argued that his Forever Canadian group is not campaigning for Alberta's referendum on a referendum on independence. But CBC's own reporting appears to describe exactly that.

In promoting a recent television segment, CBC wrote:

"Forever Canadian, one of the most visible groups on the unity side of Alberta's separation debate, says it has more than 18K volunteers across the province. CBC's Elise Stolte visited a pop-up event in Airdrie to hear what motivates them."

That description raises an obvious question: if a group has 18,000 volunteers, is holding pop-up events, and is organizing supporters across Alberta to persuade voters ahead of a referendum, what exactly is that if not campaigning?

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Campaigning is the organized effort to persuade the public to support one side of a political question. Recruiting volunteers, holding public events, distributing messaging and mobilizing supporters are classic campaign activities.

CBC's segment featured campaign volunteers at a campaign event discussing why they oppose Alberta independence. The broadcaster itself described Forever Canadian as operating on the "unity side" of the debate.

If Lukaszuk maintains Forever Canadian is not campaigning, it is difficult to reconcile that claim with CBC's own characterization of the organization and its activities.

Albertans can judge for themselves. A group with thousands of volunteers, public organizing events and a province-wide effort to persuade voters looks, sounds and acts like a campaign.

Because that's what campaigns do.