Monday, February 6, 2012
Most of the 3,662 people and organizations that made political contributions in 2010 were loyal to one party. Not all, however. Eleven individuals and double that number, twenty-two corporations, hedged their bets, donating money to two, in one case three, different Alberta political parties.
The biggest players were Encana Corporation, which split it's donations between the PC's ($17,910) and Wildrose ($23,000) and Cenovus Energy, an integrated oil company which favoured the Alberta Progressive Conservatives($19,315), but also made smaller but equal donations to both the Wildrose Party ($7,500) and the Alberta Liberals ($7,500). Cenovus was only recently formed in 2009 when Encana split into two distinct companies. Cenovus assumed ownership of assets formerly belonging to PanCanadian Energy Corp. and Alberta Energy Company (AEC), the two Canadian companies that merged to form Encana in 2002. The newer version of Encana is now focused on the natural gas industry but both companies seem intent on covering all their political bases.
The next largest donator is a puzzle to me. Credit Union Central, located in Calgary, is the umbrella organization for all of Alberta's 85 Credit Unions. Servus Credit Union representatives made it clear to me recently that they had not donated $15,765 directly to the PC's but were attending Alberta PC fundraising events as an opportunity to schmooze with government officials and develop beneficial relationships with the government in power. That might help explain Credit Union Central's logic in donating an additional $15,410 to the Progressive Conservatives, but does nothing to clarify how the Wildrose Party ended up with $2,750 in donations at the same time. I find it baffling that a cooperative option to the banks would ever think it appropriate to donate to a pro-business party and even more pro-business party. It just doesn't make sense!
Among the other large corporate donors buttering both of the right sides of their toast in 2010 were Devon Canada($12,175 to PC's - $1100 to WR), Capital Power($11,380 to PC's - $2,750 to WR), Connacher Oil & Gas($7,000 to PC's - $9,295 to WR), Horizon Construction Management($5,000 to PC's - $5,000 to WR), Albi Homes($2,725 PC's - $4,300 to WR), Coril Holdings($13,500 to PC's - $2,000 to WR) and CNR Echo Resources($750 to PC's - $7,750 to WR) along with a few minor players not worth mentioning.
Anyone who suggests that Liberal and NDP support is interchangeable might want to consider the following donations as well. Talisman Energy($7,350 to PC's - $4,250 to Libs), Suncor Energy($10,250 to PC's - $6,000 to Libs), RBC Royal Bank($1,700 to PC's - $1,500 to Libs), Nova Chemicals($8,400 to PC's - $5,000 to Libs), Liquor Stores GP($5,650 to PC's - $1,000 to Libs), Lehigh Hanson Materials($3,350 to PC's - $1,000 to Libs), Husky Energy($9,500 to PC's - $1,000 to Libs) and Enbridge Pipelines($13,950 to PC's - $6,000 to Libs). Judging by these numbers it is obvious that many among the corporate sector don't see a great deal of difference between a Progressive Conservative government and a government led by the Alberta Liberal Party. The Liberals themselves don't to seem to object to being closely associated with the PC's having chosen a former PC MLA, Raj Sherman as their leader.
Among all the political confusion and turmoil, the NDP actually stands out as an island of stability and consistency. We may have gained or lost the odd member to or from the other political parties, but we will be the only party this election to have the same MLA's we had coming out of the last election. We are the only party with a seasoned, experienced leader in Brian Mason. We still do NOT accept donations from large corporations and approximately 10-20% of our fundraising revenue comes from unions as opposed to more than 60% that the Redford government receives from their corporate sponsors. While the other parties each struggle with their own individual identity crisis, the NDP remains the only legitimate and reliable choice for left-of-center voters.
Monday, January 23, 2012
I have been busy compiling data from Elections Alberta in order to get a proper overview of the provincial political partys' sources of fundraising revenue. The early numbers seem to indicate a predictable result but the devil, as usual, is in the details. I am starting with the results for 2010, but plan on working back through 2009 and 2008 to the last election, to get the clearest possible picture of the stark differences between the way each organization funds their election campaigns. The results you see on the top right of the main webpage are the top donators of 2010
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Fundraising sources made headlines this past week as supporters and opponents butted heads over the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline.
It started when federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver labelled pipeline opponents as "radical foreign saboteurs" that are "hijacking" the project review process because they receive money from "jet-setting" Americans opposed to Canadian sovereignty. Echoing those concerns was the pro-industry group Ethical Oil. While being interviewed on CBC by Evan Soloman, Ethical Oil spokesperson Kathryn Marshall made similar claims but then refused to answer questions about whether her organization received funding from Enbridge.
What about the Conservatives themselves? They raised so much money before last year's federal election, that they broke election laws trying to spend it all! Where does their money come from? How many Conservative financial supporters stand to benefit financially from the building of a pipeline and the export of unprocessed Alberta bitumen? Do any of these supporters have foreign connections the Canadian public is as yet unaware of?
The common thread in this drama is financial backers and what they get in exchange for their contributions. While the Conservatives and Ethical Oil plot strategy together and point their fingers at the Sierra Club for accepting international donations, they are busy lining up their own large financial supporters. By refusing to answer a simple and repeated question, they have admitted that list includes Enbridge and by extension many other companies who stand to benefit from federal approval of the pipeline project. In an attempt to have their cake and the opportunity to eat it at the same time, they are doing their very best to keep the harsh lights of the media focused on anything but their own obvious conflict of interest.
The drama unfolding over pipeline development highlights exactly why we need to change the rules. Big money is undermining the credibility of all elected officials, good and bad, at all levels of government. It's becoming obvious that some politicians are more accountable to their financial base than to the voting public and are using the money they receive to fund expensive media campaigns in order to get re-elected. Realizing that their votes mean less, and turned off by the constant barrage of negative advertising, voters are staying home in ever growing numbers.
Until the NDP is elected to government in Alberta, there isn't much we can do to change the rules. We can, however, lead by example. For many years the NDP has had a policy of rejecting large corporate donations. I am taking that one step further by eliminating all the big money from my own campaign. Rather than counting on a few large financial contributions, I am asking for only $1 from as many people as possible. This may or may not put me at a disadvantage, but either way I am putting my faith in local voters. I believe they will recognize the next election as a unique opportunity to send a message - that we need to take the big money out of politics!
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
"All politicians are the same!"
I don't agree completely with this idea, but I believe I know where it comes from.
Money follows power and power covets money! So no matter which party forms government in Alberta, if they accept large and corporate donations, it won't be long before the opportunists come crawling out of the woodwork looking to form a co-dependent relationship with their new found political "friends" in government. It never fails to amaze me how fast the leeches can move in when the smell of opportunity permeates the air.
Which then begs the question - if the party in power depends on big money to get re-elected, how can we believe they are not beholden to these donators? In addition, why would we believe that profit-motivated individuals and organizations wouldn't try and leverage that kind of relationship to their advantage under these circumstances? Finally, if parties aren't dependent on corporate and large donations, then why take them in the first place?
Which is why I have always supported the NDP ban on corporate donations. I don't see any point in taking money to get elected only to see that money prevent us from doing what voters elected us to do!