UCP leads pack in donations last quarter

EDMONTON The United Conservative Party raised nearly 75 per cent more than the NDP brought in last quarter, according to the latest financial reports from Elections Alberta.

From July 1 to Sept. 30, the UCP central party and its constituency associations brought in $1.18 million, compared to $676,450 by the NDP.

That puts the UCP comfortably at the head of the pack for year-to-date donations, having raised almost $2.7 million in the 2017-18 fiscal year so far. The NDP has raised $1.86 million.

United Conservative Party executive director Janice Harrington told Postmedia in an email she was encouraged by the figures, which she believes point to Albertans “looking forward to change.”

But the figures don’t worry Premier Rachel Notley.

At the end of the day, our party’s always been one (where) you’re not going to buy your way into power.

“Tories have typically out-fundraised us and I think in the last election they outspent us something like 10 to one or 15 to one. On the flip side, what I know is our fundraising is better than it ever has been and it continues to grow every quarter,” she told Postmedia in an interview Friday.

“I’m quite confident and satisfied with where we are there.

“At the end of the day, our party ’s always been one (where) you’re not going to buy your way into power. We’re going to campaign our way into power and we have a lot of folks ready to do that.”

MAJOR PARTIES MILLIONS AHEAD

Despite the near-million-dollar gap between the United Conservatives and New Democrats, both major parties leave the rest of Alberta’s political landscape in the fiscal dust.

The Alberta Party raised just under $29,000 last quarter, and the Alberta Liberals brought in close to $27,000.

That puts the two parties’ 2017-18 amounts at $235,700 and $83,700 respectively.

But Alberta Party chief financial officer Saira Wagner partly attributed her party’s low Q3 figures to the “major headache” of switching to a new data system.

In an email, she said delays with the new system “significantly impacted” the party’s Q3 numbers.

She expects figures to bounce back in Q4.

Meanwhile, the new Freedom Conservative Party led by Strathmore-Brooks MLA Derek Fildebrandt raised $2,951 in the third quarter, just ahead of the Green party with $2,216.

The now-defunct Wildrose Party continues to pull in cash in the third quarter as well, though it was a paltry $25 — exactly half that of the Communist Party.

The Pro-life, Reform and Progressive Conservative parties all came up empty-handed.