The Alberta NDP raised twice as much money as the United Conservative Party in the first quarter of 2021, according to financial documents released today by Elections Alberta.
This marks the third quarter in the last year that Rachel Notley’s NDP have out-fundraised the governing UCP. Not only have Albertans been showing their unhappiness with Jason Kenney’s UCP in the polls, they are clearly showing it by voting with their pocketbooks and credit cards.
Here is what Alberta’s political parties raised during the first quarter of 2021:
- NDP: $1,186,245
- UCP: $591,597
- Alberta Party: $48,194
- Wildrose Independence Party: $36,883
- Pro-Life Political Association: $33,261
- Alberta Liberal Party: $31,798
- Green Party: $5,010.00
- Independence Party: $1,559.25
Notley’s NDP are on a roll, leading in the polls and continuing to dominate in fundraising. Despite losing government two years ago, the NDP appear to have solidified a larger base of donors who contribute donations in smaller amounts. Sixty-eight per cent of individual donations received by the NDP in the first quarter were in denominations of less than $250, compared to 39 per cent for the UCP.
At first glance, it would appear as though many of the UCP’s wealthier donors, who in previous years contributed a maximum annual donation in the first quarter, have not yet donated this year. This could be a big indication with a growing unhappiness in the direction of the UCP and Kenney’s leadership over the course of the past year.
The Pro-Life Political Association, which was known as the Social Credit Party before it was taken over by anti-abortion activists in 2016, went from raising nothing for the past few quarters to raising more than $33,261 in the last three months. It is unclear why the effectively dormant party that ran only one candidate in the last election and whose previous leader resigned to become a monk is now active.
The Alberta Advantage Party, Communist Party and the Reform Party raised no funds during this period.
The maximum annual donation to political parties was increased to $4,243 from $4.000 as of January 1, 2020.
9 replies on “NDP clobbers UCP in first quarter fundraising. Notley’s party raised twice as much cash as Kenney’s UCP in the first three months of 2021”
The phrase “third time in the last 12 months” is not clear. Is that 3 months of the last 12? It might be better phrased as “for three quarters in the last year” if that’s what is meant.
The UCP doesn’t need the people of Alberta for funds. They can tap into money from Political Action Committees provided by their corporate backers at election time, like sap from maples trees in the spring. Of course, people are voters and people are sending a message. It remains to be seen if people will remember the disastrous first two years of UCP rule, and whether they will feel strongly enough to turn up to vote.
The UCP are the downward run to the next election now, but they seem intent on running themselves into the ground. They did it by themselves, to themselves, and to us.
With any luck, this pattern of plummeting donations will continue until 2023, when it comes to its natural conclusion.
Until then, the daily insanity and mayhem will continue. We can only hope that they won’t steal statues, paintings and furniture from the legislature on their way out. Bolt everything down until this kleptocracy is escorted out of the building. The Alberta Enema has two more years to go.
Clearly this is because Kenney is not being a conservative. He was voted in for an agenda of Klein-style deep, sustained cuts, private health care, and right to work legislation (just to start). He has failed to deliver on our priorities.
Puhleeze. If that were true, you’d see more donations to the nut-bar extreme-right fringe parties, not the NDP.
Every objective survey of Alberta public opinion shows that Albertans are not, by & large, significantly more conservative in their views than the rest of Canada, & that voting Conservative is more about identity & brand than about policy.
jerrymacgp: You might want to look at what I happened to post about what happened. It’s very in depth.
Michael Binion: Ah yes, regurgitating the failed policies of Ralph Klein. Ralph Klein loved corporate welfare and he made Albertans pay for his epic failures, through deep cuts, which the negative effects of that can be felt at this present juncture. What did Ralph Klein do? Here’s what he did.
– sharply reduced Alberta’s oil royalty rate
platform, losing Alberta close to $600 billion.
– pilfered the Heritage Savings Trust Fund, instead of topping it up. Alpac/Mitsubishi is one of Ralph Klein’s corporate welfare boondoggles that used the sacred Heritage Savings Trust Fund money.
– basically let foreign oil companies have at our oil, gobbling up the revenue in the process.
– have lax environmental regulations for the oil industry in Alberta, making Albertans have to pay at least $260 billion, or more to rectify the damages the oil companies did.
– Swan Hills, which now has a ballooning cost that is 10 times it’s original price tag of $500 million.
– Miller West Pulp, that has a cost of $180 million.
– West Edmonton Mall, with a secret settlement, that had a cost of in between $400 million to $500 million.
– Ambulance amalgamation, which had a cost of $55 million at the outset, but ended up costing $125 million.
– AISH, which had a cost of $100 million. Ralph Klein, and members of his PC cabinet were on the news, laughing and ridiculing the handicapped.
– B.S.E, which cost Albertans $400 million, and left farmers and ranchers not getting the help they needed. Cargill and Lakeside Packers, American owned meat packing plants, got the relief money.
– electricity deregulation, which by now is at least $40 billion. Deregulation of utilities was also quite costly.
– imbalanced tax policies, including the flat tax. The flat tax lost Alberta at least $75 billion, and other bad tax policies lost Alberta additional revenue.
Ralph Klein’s privatization ploys were very bad too.
– privatization of driver instruction increased accidents.
– privatization of registries increased identity related crimes.
– privatization of liquor retail outlets increased problems for communities.
– privatization of road maintenance left shoddy service.
Ralph Klein left infrastructure in a decrepit state. It is something like $30 billion to $40 billion, or even more, to rectify this.
Teachers and nurses were given pink slips. Their careers either came to an abrupt end, or they had to relocate to other parts of the world.
Hospitals in rural areas were shut down, and hospitals in other parts of Alberta were blown to bits, or left in a state of neglect.
Schools in Alberta were never properly looked after either.
The UCP were never voted in. It’s very obvious. The UCP also keeps on spending foolishly, letting billions upon billions of dollars go to waste. Albertans didn’t ask for more sharp cuts, which do harm, and never do any good.
Michael Binion: The UCP are exactly like their idol, Ralph Klein. They are destroying what Peter Lougheed has done for this province. It’s blatantly disgusting.
If those are your priorities, I’m not sure you’re a conservative either……right to work legislation? That’s usually accompanied by a lowering of the minimum wage laws is it not? Sounds like a fascist agenda to me….
Private health care??? Like they have in America where having to be hospitalized with covid is followed by a bill that guarantees some working families bankruptsy? Good luck achieving that utopia!!!
Go Rachel. She is the real deal. I’ve been a party member since the early 1980s. Until 2014 when Rachel became leader, the Alberta NDP never raised $1.2 million dollars in an entire year let alone in the first three months of a year. Maybe it will take a term out of office for Albertans to realize what an outstanding premier Rachel was in comparison to the person who currently occupies the premier’s chair.