MORE NDP OVERREACH
An all-party legislative committee tasked with modernizing Alberta’s election finance rules continues to make mischief. The NDP-dominated body has now recommended that leadership campaign spending be limited to 15 per cent of a party’s election spending cap — or about $330,000 per person.
This is all about the NDP’s pledge during the 2015 election to get so-called big money out of Alberta politics. It begs the question, however: Why should the government be involved in setting limits on how much leadership candidates are able to spend in pursuit of the party’s crown? Surely, that’s a matter for party executives and members to decide, not overreaching NDP politicians eager to clip the wings of their competitors.
Jim Prentice attracted attention for spending a jaw-dropping $2.6 million during his successful bid for the Conservative leadership in 2014. The figure was almost four times the combined amount Thomas Lukaszuk and Ric McIver were able to invest in their respective campaigns. The lopsided war chests were mere reflections of the popularity of the three candidates, with Prentice the clear favourite, as evidenced by his victory.
Prentice received 17,963 votes on the first ballot, easily defeating McIver and Lukaszuk, who obtained 2,742 and 2,681 votes respectively.
It isn’t at all surprising, then, that Prentice had far more money at his disposal than the other two did.
The ethics committee is looking for a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. In the NDP’s 2014 leadership contest, for instance, Rachel Notley spent $117,841, David Eggen $33,768 and Rod Loyola $9,774. The next year, in the Wildrose leadership race, Brian Jean spent $194,476, Drew Barnes $99,597 and Linda Osinchuk $20,000.
It shouldn’t be a bombshell that the anticipated winners are able to mount more lavish campaigns than candidates with tepid support.
The NDP, which has never met an imaginary problem it wasn’t determined to tinker with, believes it is doing the right thing.
“We want to be able to make sure that it’s possible for the average Albertan, in fact all Albertans, to aspire to become leader of a political party,” Edmonton-Whitemud NDP MLA Bob Turner told the committee in support of the spending limits.
With the exception of Prentice, recent history proves that every leadership candidate has spent less than the $330,000 the committee wants to legislate. And it is not at all clear that raising the $117,841 that Notley spent, is within the reach of “all Albertans,” as Turner naively believes.
The meddlesome committee — which also wants to limit how much parties can spend and seeks taxpayer subsidies for politicians’ election campaigns — should stand down.
Enough with the tiresome interfering with a political system that serves Albertans well.