Buying the Win, One Election At A Time

Alberta Conservatives do an about face on their campaign finance values

“We are in support of eliminating corporate and union donations and getting big money and big labour out of politics. We believe that the power of democracy is best served when it’s in the hands of the individual voters.” – Jason Nixon (2015)

In 2015, the NDP government made changes to Alberta’s election laws in it’s very first bill. Bill 1: An Act To Renew Democracy in Alberta was a move to take big money out of politics by banning corporate and union donations. The bill was passed unanimously with the support of both the PC and Wildrose parties.

Fast forward ten years and the UCP has flip-flopped on their values, again. Bill 54, which is set to pass through the legislature next week, will mean that corporate donations are once again allowed in Alberta elections. I do wonder why Scott Cyr, Mike Ellis, Grant Hunter, Brian Jean, Todd Loewen, Ric McIver, Angela Pitt, Jason Nixon, Glenn Van Dijken, and Tany Yao have all reversed their positions on corporate dollars in Alberta’s elections? All were in the House in 2015 and voted in support of taking big money out of politics. Were they playing politics then or are they doing so now? Rhetorical question, of course, it’s all about politics with these folks.

It’s a shame because voters really deserve to have elected representatives who are accountable to the people, not wealthy corporations.

Does money win elections? I mean, it’s hard to imagine anything other than money getting someone like Donald Trump elected. Certainly he wasn’t presenting the American public with anything resembling a coherent policy offering (or, frankly, coherent sentences).

In all seriousness though, there is a fair amount of research on this question but it’s a complicated one. There are so many factors at play in an election. We just went through a federal election that demonstrated clearly that the ballot box question can change at any time. Incumbency plays a huge factor in election outcomes. All that being said, there are a number of studies that show a positive correlation between campaign spending and electoral success.

This bill does more than just re-introduce corporate dollars into our elections. The NDP set very reasonable spending caps, both for individual candidates and for political parties. The UCP is raising election expense limits by 50%. Party spending limits for the 2023 election were $3.2 million, that will now rise to $5 million. Each individual riding has received a $25,000 bump in spending limit. I had no trouble running all the necessary campaign activities on $50,000, but unlike the UCP I have a natural tendency towards frugality.

When it comes to spending on keeping their own jobs, the UCP suddenly recognizes the rising cost of everything. Or that’s the explanation on offer for increased spending limits. If they could recognize the same thing about spending on our kids education I really think Albertans would be better off.