Fundraising by vehicle dealers sparks NDP complaint
UCP Leader Jason Kenney’s hugely successful fundraising from car dealerships led to a political blowup Tuesday.
The NDP sent a four-page complaint to Lorne Gibson, Alberta’s election commissioner, into possible violations of the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act by Kenney, the United Conservative Party, a third-party political action committee and the Motor Dealers’ Association of Alberta.
The NDP asked for “substantive penalties” for activities that are “self-described as a deliberate strategy to avoid the limitations of the election financing law.”
The violations are “severe and wilful,” said the complaint from
The activities … are not minor or innocent errors being committed in the course of navigating new rules.
Roari Richardson, provincial secretary for the NDP.
“The activities . . . are not minor or innocent errors being committed in the course of navigating new rules.”
Twenty-six Alberta motor vehicle dealerships have donated a total of $170,000 to the UCP leader’s cause in the past three months.
The Motor Dealers’ Association of Alberta also pledged $100,000 that hasn’t been donated yet and said it hopes to raise $1 million in all for Kenney’s cause.
The money is funnelled through Shaping Alberta’s Future, a newly registered third-party advertiser with the sole declared purpose of crushing the NDP and electing Kenney.
The NDP alleges that Shaping Alberta is going far beyond the intent of the province’s financing law and acting like a full-fledged political party, not merely an advertiser.
For one thing, it solicits money for a purpose that it says doesn’t require public disclosure.
The group has been increasingly active in recent days, with attack ads against the NDP on radio, TV, billboards, Facebook and other social media.
Behind all this lies Kenney’s private dealings with the motor dealers. Details have come out in newsletters and letters sent to dealerships.
In an interview Tuesday, Denis Ducharme, president of the motor dealers’ association, insisted there was no agreement or deal with Kenney. “Nothing was promised, nothing was bought,” he said.
Ducharme said NDP policy has been very harmful to dealers, so the group felt compelled to get involved for the first time since its formation in the 1950s.
He said the body merely wants to help counter the negative advertising aimed at the United Conservative Party.
Kenney’s UCP spokeswoman, Christine Myatt, says the Opposition leader listens to policy ideas but doesn’t make promises.