Byelection a test of spending limits
Calgary-Lougheed race a trial run of ‘challenges’ before 2019 Alberta vote
Alberta political parties are dealing with new spending rules for the first time in the Calgary-Lougheed byelection — and they’re finding it a chore.
Gone are the days when a party could sink hundreds of thousands of dollars into a campaign, potentially outspending their rivals by a wide margin in the process.
Instead, under legislation brought in by the NDP government last year, parties face a byelection spending limit of $23,000, while candidates have a limit of $50,000.
That makes the byelection a trial run for the 2019 provincial election, when parties will face an overall expenditure limit of $2 million.
It’s a big adjustment, even for parties such as the NDP that didn’t necessarily spend heavily in the past.
NDP provincial secretary Roari Richardson said the byelection spending limit looms large when parties shell out for necessities such as office space and advertising, especially in an expensive market like Calgary.
“I would say we’re all facing the same challenges,” Richardson said in a recent interview.
The spending cap is also accompanied by new limits on donations, which see individuals only allowed to give $4,000 total annually in donations to parties, constituency associations and candidates.
Janice Harrington, executive director of the United Conservative Party — formed by the union of Progressive Conservative and Wildrose members in a new party — said parties need to be much more disciplined up front to ensure they don’t go over the limit, which could bring a $10,000 fine.
“Sometimes when you’re in an election and you’re running fast, you’re worrying about the reconciliation later,” she said.
It also means parties have to have done their homework before the writ is dropped.
“From a byelection perspective, you need to have a very good sense of voter ID and all of those things ahead of time,” Harrington said.
The Dec. 14 byelection in Calgary-Lougheed was triggered by the resignation of UCP MLA Dave Rodney to clear a path to the legislature for party leader Jason Kenney.
The former MP will square off against the NDP’s Phillip van der Merwe, Liberal Leader David Khan, Green Leader Romy Tittel, Reform candidate Lauren Thorsteinson, and Independents Wayne Leslie and Larry Heather.
The Alberta Party bowed out of the byelection, saying it wanted to focus its financial and human resources on its leadership race.
As a federal politician, Kenney was renowned for his fundraising ability and he’s spent heavily since he entered provincial politics in 2016. When he won the PC leadership race, which had no spending limit, he raised and spent $1.5 million while distant runnerup Richard Starke spent less than $200,000.
While Kenney is the overwhelming favourite in the byelection, he won’t outspend all his rivals.
Khan said the Liberals will put significant resources into the race, though he couldn’t say whether the party will hit what he called a “very generous” spending cap.
But Richardson said the NDP will likely raise and spend the limit in Calgary-Lougheed. A tangible cap gives all parties a target to aim for, with the knowledge that their opponents face the same limits, he said. That hasn’t always been the case. Financial reports from the last provincial byelection, in CalgaryGreenway in 2016, show the Wildrose claiming more than $550,000 in combined party and candidate expenditures, while the PCs and victorious candidate Prab Gill claimed $450,000.
The NDP chalked up more than $171,000, while the Liberals posted $133,993 in expenses.
Former PC executive director Troy Wason said the Tories didn’t actually spend that much in the Greenway campaign, with a significant amount of the party expenses representing an accounting procedure.
He said a better example of bigspending in campaigns was seen in four byelections held in 2014. The Tories, then in power, had nearly $1 million in combined party and candidate expenses on the four campaigns, while the Wildrose spent nearly $1.7 million.
In contrast, the NDP spent about $170,00 and the Liberals $106,711.
The new spending limits and donation rules mark a significant change to the Alberta political landscape. Through most of their four decades in office, the Tories had a significant financial advantage over their opponents.
Wason, who is no longer involved with any provincial political party, said he supports the spending cap.
“If everybody is sticking to the legislation ... every party should be able to get in the game if they plan accordingly,” he said.
However, Wason said he is concerned that the spending gap in both the Calgary-Lougheed byelection and the next provincial campaign will be filled by the socalled political action committees (PACs) that have proliferated in Alberta over the past year, primarily in connection to conservative politics.
Third-party groups do face a limit of $3,000 on advertising expenses in byelections and a $150,000 cap in general elections.
However, the chief electoral officer recently warned in his 201617 annual report that third-party organizations could be used to skirt existing law, and that new spending and disclosure rules and tougher regulations were needed to prevent collusion with political parties.
The Liberals’ Khan — whose party introduced a private-member’s bill that would crack down on PACs — believes political action committees are operating in the Calgary-Lougheed byelection, making the party spending limits moot.
“That’s unregulated, off-thebooks,” he said.