Garbage Dumpster CEO Gave Double Legal Amount to Group Running Danielle Smith NHL Hockey Ads
Lindsay Haag, CEO of company that manufactures dumpsters, flowed $60,000 to third party group through multiple corporate entities
Another wealthy Alberta business owner flowed tens of thousands of dollars more than the legal limit to a group that ran expensive NHL hockey ads promoting Alberta Premier Danielle Smith through multiple corporate entities.
Earlier this week, PressProgress reported that a network of companies linked to Edmonton developer J. Cameron Allard channelled $100,000 to the Alberta First Initiative, a group that ran ads promoting Smith and attacking Alberta NDP opposition leader Rachel Notley.
NEW: A network of companies linked to wealthy developer flowed $100,000 to a group that bought NHL hockey ads promoting Danielle Smith.
The group received $100,000 from four companies linked to J. Cameron Allard, despite a $30,000 donation limit.https://t.co/1xS9ncVB0S #ableg
— PressProgress (@pressprogress) February 28, 2023
Public records show Allard’s companies weren’t alone.
Elections Alberta Q4 filings show two companies owned by Lindsay Haag, the owner of a company that manufactures garbage dumpsters, donated $60,000 to the third party advertiser in the final quarter of 2022 – double the maximum amount allowed under law.
Records show Environmental Metal Works, which sells garbage dumpsters, donated $30,000 to the pro-Danielle Smith group. Another corporate entity, 1716804 Alberta, also donated $30,000 to the same group.
Corporate records list Haag as the sole director and shareholder of both companies.
While corporations in Alberta are allowed to donate to third party advertising groups, Elections Alberta says donors are not allowed to use multiple numbered companies or corporate subsidiaries to get around corporate donation limits.
“Under the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act, associated and/or subsidiary corporations who each make third party advertising contributions, are subject to an aggregate contribution total of $30,000 per year,” Elections Alberta told PressProgress.
“An individual who is a corporate director for multiple corporations is not considered in the aggregation unless that individual controls each of those corporations.”
Neither Haag nor representatives for Environmental Metal Works responded to requests for comment from PressProgress about the donations.
Located in Two Hills Alberta, Environmental Metal Works describes itself as a “dumpster bin and waste container manufacturer” that specializes in “residential, commercial, industrial and specialty waste containers.”
According to its website, the company also provides industrial waste management services for the “oil and gas industry.”
Environmental Metal Works
Elections Alberta filings have shown AFI has received large sums of donations from companies linked to the oil and gas industry.
According to the Canadian Press, the AFI also has deep ties with companies associated with the energy industry and could benefit from Smith’s controversial R-Star project, now known as the liability management incentive program, which she pitched to offer billions in giveaways to corporations to clean up their abandoned well sites.
The AFI was founded by Mackenzie Lee, a Calgary business person, who previously worked alongside Kris Kinnear, the coordinator of Smith’s 2023 UCP leadership campaign.
Kinnear, who founded the group that developed the R-Star proposal, currently works for Smith as a “special projects manager” in the Premier’s Office.
Through his involvement with Sustaining Alberta’s Energy Network (SAEN), Kinnear lobbied the government for R-Star on several occasions.
According to the Canadian Press, donations to AFI from oil companies “increased eightfold” after Smith won the UCP leadership and became Premier.
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