On the final night of second quarter fundraising period for Alberta’s political parties, I thought it would be useful to take a look back at the past year in political party fundraising. There has been a seismic shift in our politics in this province since last year when the Progressive Conservatives were defeated in the general election and Albertans elected their first new government in 44 years.
Immediately after their election, the New Democratic Party government implemented one of their key election promises to ban corporations and unions from donating money to political parties. This change had a significant immediate impact on the PC Party, which had relied heavily on large donations from corporations to sustain its operations and fill its large campaign war-chest. The shock of the election loss and severing of its access to corporate donors led the PC Party to raise only $15,575.50 in the third quarter of 2015, it’s lowest fundraising period in decades.
The PC Party appeared to have somewhat recovered by the fourth quarter of 2015, when it raised $221,959.50.
The NDP and Wildrose Party faired better and adapted much quicker to the changes due to their already substantial base of individual donors. Both parties rely heavily on individual donors contributing amounts under the $250 reporting threshold.
All the major political parties have been soliciting donations in advance of tonight’s deadline. The NDP and Wildrose Party in particular have been flooding their supporters and past donors inboxes with email appeals for donations over the past week.
Here is a sample of what has hit my inbox over the past few weeks:
“Help us defeat the NDP in Q2!” was the subject line of one email from Wildrose executive director Jeremy Nixon on June 24, 2016.
“We’re publicly measured against our opponents, and we’ve got just five days to match the Wildrose dollar for dollar.” was the lede of one email from NDP Provincial Secretary Roari Richardson on June 25, 2016.
“The NDP are now charging you $5.1 million to advertise their carbon tax plan that is putting 15,000 jobs at risk and taking $1,000 a year out of the typical Alberta household.” was the start of one appeal from Wildrose environment critic Todd Loewen on June 21, 2016. (The Wildrose Party paid Ezra Levant‘s Rebel Media to send this letter to its list of supporters).
“It’s 2016 – yet the opposition seems to be stuck in the stone age. Countries around the world are working to address climate change. Yet Wildrose leaders continue to deny basic science.” was the lede of an email from NDP Deputy Premier Sarah Hoffman on June 28, 2016.
“We need to send a strong message to the NDP, and to all Albertans, that Wildrose is the only party ready to govern in 2019.” wrote Wildrose House Leader Nathan Cooper on June 30, 2016.
“We ended 44 years of Conservative rule, reversed devastating cuts to education. We’re leading Alberta’s future with our forward-thinking Climate Leadership Plan. We can’t go back to the days of tax giveaways for the wealthiest and less support for hard working families.” was the end of an email appeal from Premier Rachel Notley on June 30, 2016.
The results of the second quarter fundraising will be released in July 2016.
