Skybox Grill, located inside the Servus Credit Union Place recreation centre in St. Albert, has cut the party reservation of Take Back Alberta, a far-right conservative political organizing group and registered third-party election advertiser that has infiltrated the board of directors of Alberta’s governing United Conservative Party.
The City of St. Albert understands that a private group made a reservation at a leased space within Servus Credit Union Place, but the leaseholder has since made the decision to not accommodate the group’s reservation. This is their right in alignment with their lease agreement.
— City of St. Albert (@CityofStAlbert) December 6, 2023
The TBA event was scheduled for December 13, and the group’s founder and director, David Parker, was billed to appear alongside anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Jamie Salé, a one-time Olympic gold medal winning figure skater. The location for this event is now listed on the group’s website as “to be announced,” a phrase which coincidentally shares the acronym TBA.
“Our establishment does not endorse or condemn any political group; we maintain a neutral stance to ensure inclusivity,” Skybox Grill said on their Facebook page.
“Recent decisions, such as not accommodating a specific political group, were made solely to prevent potential conflicts within our diverse customer base. This decision does not reflect any political bias on our part.”
Parker took to social media platform X to encourage this type of negative review seeding, instructing his followers to, “drive this restaurants [sic] reviews into the ground.”
Alright folks, time to send a message to the City of St. Albert and the bigoted business owner who decided to cancel a Christmas Party because the woke mob scared him. Drive this restaurants reviews into the ground.#GoWokeGoBroke https://t.co/Jmtcaqvk11
— David Parker (@DavidJPba) December 7, 2023
TBA boasts that it swelled UCP membership involvement in internal elections held during the party’s last two annual general meetings – most recently in held in Calgary in November – that TBA members now hold a majority on the party’s board of directors, having completed a near-complete takeover of the board in that time. TBA also claims it signed up so many members it was able to help turf then-premier Jason Kenney from the party’s leadership post and eventually elevate now-premier Danielle Smith to leadership. It organized around “freedom,” from COVID-19 regulations. Until recently, Fort Macleod councillor Marco Van Huigenbos was the organization’s CFO. Van Huigenbos faces a charge of mischief over $5,000 stemming from his alleged role as an organizer of the 2022 Canada-U.S. border blockade in Coutts, Alta.
Requests to speak with Take Back Alberta have not been fruitful at this time.
Below: A photo of the interior of Skybox Grill, shared on the restaurant’s Facebook page.
