Unite Alberta Ltd. under scrutiny
Kenney’s campaign corporation is not non-profit, advocacy group says
A political advocacy group says Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Jason Kenney is misleading the public by depicting his United Alberta campaign organization as a non-profit.
When Kenney launched his leadership bid in July, the Calgary Conservative MP said Unite Alberta would be incorporated as a non-profit, and the organization’s website says it has been set up as a “not-for-profit corporation.”
But Progress Alberta — a leftleaning advocacy organization — said Wednesday that Unite Alberta has incorporated with Service Alberta as a named corporation, not as a non-profit company or as a society.
Progress Alberta’s executive director, Duncan Kinney, said there is a need for clarity, especially as Kenney’s leadership organization is operating in a grey zone since the PC race doesn’t formally start until October and Elections Alberta rules for campaigns aren’t yet in effect.
“It’s an error that speaks to the Kenney campaign. If they’re playing fast-and-loose with what a nonprofit is and isn’t, what else are they playing fast and loose with?” said Kinney, whose organization has adopted the message that “Kenney must be stopped.”
Kinney said that if Unite Alberta had been registered as a non-profit it would have faced a greater level of transparency, including a requirement that it file year-end financial statements.
But Kenney’s campaign, while acknowledging Unite Alberta is not incorporated as a non-profit, dismissed Progress Alberta’s complaint and said the idea it is set up as for personal profit is “laughable.”
“There are a number of ways in which a corporation can act in a philanthropic way, or operate without an objective to profit from its activities,” said an email statement from Kenney spokesman Blaise Boehmer.
Boehmer said an organization can incorporate “to undertake activities that are of a particular interest to its directors, but without an objective for profit.”
“This is how Unite Alberta Ltd. is set up.”
Unite Alberta has been aggressive in its fundraising, though under provincial law it will not be allowed to transfer money to Kenney’s campaign once the PC race launches Oct. 1.
Kenney has pledged to release the names of donors to Unite Alberta, though there is not yet a timetable for doing so, and has promised to not accept further donations to his leadership campaign from those individuals.
Asked what Unite Alberta will do with any funds left over when the PC contest gets underway, Boehmer said in an email that since the money can’t be transferred, the organization anticipates having little to no money by October.
“We will obviously want to run Unite Alberta as close to a zero balance as possible by the time the PCAA race officially begins.”
Kenney is the only declared candidate for the PC leadership so far, running on a platform of unifying the Tories and Wildrose.