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trade unions buying tory memberships. backdoor fundraising?

This irked me… and it should probably irk the over 48,000 union members who are part of the Council.

The Alberta Building Trades Council has announced that it will be buying and selling 10,000 Alberta PC memberships for Dr. Lyle Oberg.

Assuming that by buying these memberships through a leadership camp, these organizations are only paying $5 per membership (some Alberta PC leadership camps are charging $10 per membership in order to buy a “special card” – translation: %50 donation to the leadership campaign) this money will eventually make it’s way in to the coffers of the Alberta PC campaign war chest… why doesn’t this bump into some sort of political contribution law?

Here are two examples:

Alberta Building Trades Council – buying 10,000 Alberta PC membership.
10,000 memberships x $5 = $50,000 political donation
10,000 memberships x $10 = $100,000 political donation (50% to the Oberg leadership campaign)

International Union of Painters and Allied Trades – plans to “give away” 2,000 Alberta PC memberships.
2,000 memberships x $5 = $10,000 political donation
2,000 memberships x $10 = $20,000 political donation (50% to a leadership campaign)

There are no laws or any sort of rules regarding what internal-partisan leadership campaigns can raise, but this must bump up in to regular Elections Alberta political contribution limits (which I believe are $15,000 annually outside election periods and $30,000 in election periods).
If not, isn’t this simply a backdoor for political fundraising?

Regardless of whether this is happening in the Alberta PC’s, the Alberta Liberals, the Alberta Alliance, or the Alberta NDP – Alberta needs stronger laws regarding how political parties and leadership candidates raise money.

Don’t Albertans deserve accountability and transparency?

Don’t Albertans deserve to know who is lining political pockets and coffers in their province?

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