The Problems With Alberta's Election Donation Laws

My latest Calgary Herald column looks at the controversy surrounding the donation from Daryl Katz to the Alberta Tories:

In what was otherwise a challenging week for them, the Alberta Tories were relishing their “vindication” courtesy of Elections Alberta and its investigation of a rather large and controversial donation to the party.
The report from now-retired Chief Electoral Officer Brian Fjeldheim found that the $430,000 bulk donation from billionaire Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz and associates was not in violation of Alberta’s election law. That law limits individual and corporate donations in an election year to $30,000 but the $430,000 was divided among 17 entities and therefore deemed to be legal.
It should hardly surprise us that the party responsible for the law is adept at navigating it. Nor should it surprise us that the party which benefits most from the status quo would wish to retain it.
Premier Alison Redford declared last week that there was no need for any further changes to the Election Finances and Disclosure Act. What the Premier did not address, however, is why the Tories were not forthcoming about this donation in the first place. If they did nothing wrong in accepting this donation – which, strictly speaking, would now seem to be the case – why were they acting as though they had something to hide?
The Tories received a bank draft for $430,000 on April 16, 2012 — one week before Election Day. However, Albertans didn’t become aware of it until more than six months later when it was revealed in documents released by Elections Alberta.
Interestingly, two days after the $430,000 was received, the Edmonton Journal ran a story about how the Tories were breaking their promise of releasing updated lists of campaign donors. The party president was even quoted but of course nothing was said about the bulk donation from Katz and friends.
Is it really possible that top Tories were unaware of a massive cash infusion a week before the election? Clearly those who were in the know kept their mouths shut before Election Day and continued doing so even after the vote.
For their part, Elections Alberta is satisfied that Katz (specifically Katz Group Properties, Inc. — which ironically was not a donor) was indeed reimbursed by the other donors. But did the Tories know or care if that was the case? Was there any obligation on their part to see to it that the people listed as Tory donors actually coughed up their own money?
A former Tory strategist was quoted in the Herald last week offering this defence of the status quo: “If I feel very strongly about something and I want to put money behind it, I should be able to put money behind it”.
I agree. But what makes $30,000 the magical number? It also, though, underscores the absurdity of allowing corporate and union donations.
Take, for example, the one finding of guilt in the Elections Alberta investigation. Katz associate Paul Marcaccio was deemed to not be an “ordinary resident” of Alberta, and therefore his $25,000 donation was returned. Yet, the $25,000 donation from the “Paul Marcaccio Professional Corporation” was deemed acceptable, as though the two have nothing to do with each other.
Frankly, if Alberta’s donation limits can be so easily circumvented, it’s worth asking why we even have them. Would much have really changed here if the $430,000 had all come from Katz himself?
What’s really needed is transparency and mandatory disclosure. Would the $430,000 have been donated and accepted if all parties involved knew that it would be made public prior to Election Day?
Surely such a massive donation so late in the campaign might have been the defining issue of that final week. Instead, of course, it was the controversial comments by two Wildrose candidates. For all the dire warnings about the influence of money in politics, the Wildrose gaffes did far more for the Tories than the $430,000.
Our system allows donors to find ways of making large donations and allows parties to find ways of accepting them. It’s not until months later that the rest of us get to piece it all together.
We need to end the farce. If you want to write a big cheque or pocket a big cheque, fine — but stand up and own it.