Notley can’t afford these mistakes

For a promising provi ncial government staffed with so much talent, the Alberta NDP sure can’t seem to keep itself out of weird and pointless crises of its own making.

This week, the NDP faced two fundraising controversies. One involves a $10,000 a head dinner held in Ontario for the benefit of Andrea Horwath. The other had to be cancelled hours before it was scheduled to begin as Alberta’s ethics commissioner announced her office would launch an investigation into opposition claims of selling access.

Fundraising is always a tricky matter. Parties have to raise money. And one of the most effective ways of doing so is to hold dinners, cocktail parties and tournaments with leaders and elected officials. The value of such events isn’t in the food and wine selection. No one pays $1,000 for a plate of tenderloin. No, the real benefit is the chance to hobnob and network with people who are in positions of power.

For a party that actually holds power, such events are always a bit fraught. The leader of the Alberta NDP is certainly entitled to host an intimate dinner-fundraiser, but the premier of Alberta can’t sell access to her office.

The line between the two is not always clear, and fundraising is a particularly sensitive topic in Alberta. Under the old Progressive Conservative government, these types of fundraisers had not only become commonplace, but — as was revealed by the CBC at the time — taxpayers were often picking up the tabs for the tickets. After four decades of rule, a small-town council would think nothing of expensing a bank of passes to the minister of municipal affairs’ annual constituency golf fundraiser.

The NDP’s win last May was supposed to excise this cancer of complacency. Instead, the party scheduled a two-part fundraiser at the Art Gallery of Alberta. The first was a standard reception, with tickets at $250 each. As a bonus, attendees could spend $ 1,000 for a private dinner with Premier Rachel Notley and MLAs in a separate room in the gallery just before the main reception.

At first, the government said ethics commissioner Marguerite Trussler signed off on both events. Then the second part was said to have been cancelled. Then it wasn’t. After the opposition Wildrose wrote to the commissioner requesting an investigation, it was cancelled again.

Jason Nixon, Wildrose’s chief critic for democratic accountability, suggested that Trussler wasn’t given a full account of the event before she signed off on it. “I never did think that the NDP were telling the ethics commissioner that they were having an exclusive, private, select-invite access to premier and cabinet event for money,” he told the Calgary Herald. And Trussler is, indeed, investigating.

The second fundraising event looks worse even as it’s less likely to have contravened any laws. Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath flew Notley east to attend an exclu- sive $10,000-a-plate fundraising dinner. Companies that conduct business in Alberta reportedly attended.

Neither Notley nor the Alberta NDP materially benefitted from the event — it was an Ontario NDP fundraiser — and, as such, it was unlikely to have violated the letter of Alberta’s Conflicts of Interests Act. Regardless, it isn’t seemly for an Alberta premier to be raising money for her Ontario cousin, particularly when the ticket prices are so exorbitant. Who, exactly, would line up to pay so much to a meal with the leader of a third- place party?

The Alberta NDP’s first few months in office have been hit and miss, but most of the criticism they’ve faced to date has centred on ideological transgressions, weird hires or amateurish mistakes. Compounded by the party’s terrible communication and Notley’s overly legalistic defences, the fundraising scandals mark the first real crisis of trust — who, exactly, is this party here to serve?

Now is not a good moment to raise that question in the electorate’s mind.

This week, Finance Minister Joe Ceci announced that the province may be facing a $10-billion deficit for the coming fiscal year — he wouldn’t say so directly, so high is the number, but rather said that the deficit would be $5 billion higher than the $ 5.4 billion previously forecast. That would be the largest deficit in Alberta’s history. With the economy bleed- ing and oil royalties unlikely to bounce back, the NDP is in a real bind. Raising taxes won’t do much to narrow the gap. The only lever the government has left is cuts. That’s a dark road for a party that came to power adamantly opposed to tight-fisted fiscal management.

The budget will be the defining challenge of the Alberta NDP’s reign, the test by which Notley’s government will be judged fit to rule, or not. And, by extension, whether other NDP governments can be trusted to manage the books. Some of the brightest NDP talent from across the country has flocked to Alberta in service of this glorious revolution. Given this, there is no excuse for the government to find itself embroiled in fundraising scandals.

When the PCs were caught with their fingers on the rubber chicken, they had the benefit of plying their trade in a province that was prospering enough to be indifferent. That is not Alberta today. These are not the sorts of mistakes this government can afford.

THE NDP WAS SUPPOSED TO EXCISE THE CANCER OF COMPLACENCY. INSTEAD, THE PARTY SCHEDULED A FUNDRAISER THAT’S NOW BEING INVESTIGATED FOR ETHICAL BREACHES.