UCP Questions NDP Leader Rachel Notley’s Husband’s Role in Alberta Election

Lou Arab works for CUPE union running attack ads against Danielle Smith

NDP Leader and former premier Rachel Notley and her husband, Lou Arab, leave following a concession speech after Notley loses the election to the UCP, in Edmonton Alta., on April 16, 2019. (The Canadian Press/Jason Franson)

With an election announcement imminent, Alberta Premier and United Conservative Party (UCP) Leader Danielle Smith is questioning whether NDP Opposition Leader Rachel Notley’s husband is using union funds to pay for attack ads against the UCP.

Notley’s husband, Lou Arab, is a self-described “political field activist, union communicator.” According to his LinkedIn profile, he works as a communications staffer for the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), one of Alberta’s largest unions, representing over 36,000 public sector workers in the municipal, school board, health-care, post-secondary education, and not-for-profit sectors, among other sectors.

Arab’s LinkedIn page also indicates he works for the Alberta NDP as “political campaign manager.” He also sits on the governing board of Notley’s NDP.

CUPE, which collects union dues from its members, has been running almost hourly attack ads against the UCP for weeks, with such statements as, “Danielle Smith wants to charge for check ups“ and ”Danielle Smith is too risky.”

One statement, on April 30, says Smith is “Risky. Unpredictable. Focused on all the wrong things. Alberta needs a premier who is competent and trustworthy. Not Danielle Smith.”

In a statement on April 29, the UCP said: “What the premier would like to ask Ms. Notley, who is married to a communications representative for CUPE, is why is her husband’s union spending massively on third-party attack ads to elect the NDP, and how is it legal.”

The UCP added: “Ms. Notley’s husband is actively involved as a union representative. They are working night and day to elect NDP candidates, from door knocking to spending massively on third-party attack ads, to influence the NDP and the electorate. Voters should be concerned by how the Alberta Federation of Labour influences Ms. Notley and the NDP.”

Union Defends Notley’s Husband

CUPE is part of the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL), but AFL president Gil McGowan said Notley’s husband has no official role.

“It’s just a personal smear,” McGowan said, noting that Arab is “supporting his wife, which is nothing other than laudable.”

This is not the first time questions have been raised about Notley’s husband. When Notley was premier, CBC reported in June 2015 that a phone call made to Arab’s cellphone was returned by Premier Notley’s staff.

Arab worked then as a communications officer with CUPE. CBC said it left a message on Arab’s mobile phone requesting comment about a press release sent by CUPE from his union email address. The call was returned by Notley’s then-press secretary, working out of the premier’s office, CBC reported.

That same month, a CUPE Alberta press release urging the Alberta government to move quickly on its pledge to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour was sent out from Arab’s union email address. The press release quoted the CUPE president and listed her contact information.

Notley said her husband didn’t write the press release and it was an accident.

“It was one that accidentally went out because of the IT infrastructure where he is,” she said at the time.

Notley, a former lawyer, said there was no conflict of interest caused by her husband’s role with the labour union.

“We began discussions with the ethics commissioner almost immediately after the election to get advice, in terms of the parameters of what I can do and what he can do as a result of the work that he does and did,” said Notley at a news conference at the time.

In a June 21, 2015, commentary, Paula Simons, then an Edmonton Journal columnist, and now a sitting federal senator, said it would be difficult for Arab to continue working for one of the province’s largest public sector unions while his wife was running the province.

“It doesn’t actually violate any of the province’s conflict of interest laws or guidelines,” wrote Simons. “But this isn’t about ethics. It’s about optics.”

“Politically, the damage was done. It created the impression the union was exerting undue influence on NDP policy and called into question the ability of Notley’s government to play hardball with her husband’s employer come contract time,” wrote Simons.

“No premier’s spouse should work for an organization that’s always going to be in the midst of controversy, that’s always going to be lobbying or opposing the government on some issue or other,” she said at the time.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.