Elections Alberta released the financial disclosures showing the results of political party fundraising in the third quarter of 2017.
Here are my quick thoughts on the latest fundraising numbers:
- The NDP continue to demonstrate an impressive ability to raise money in Alberta. The NDP has raised the most of any party in the first three quarters of 2017.
- This is the United Conservative Party’s first-ever quarter of fundraising, and I expect the party will raise significantly larger amounts in the next quarter when it has a permanent leader and when annual contribution limits reset before the first quarter of 2018.
- This was likely the final quarter that the Progressive Conservative and Wildrose parties will report any significant fundraising amounts. Both parties are now controlled by the board of directors of the UCP. Funds donated to the two parties in the third quarter cannot be transferred to the UCP or any other party.
- The Alberta Party is attempting to position itself as a centrist alternative to the NDP and UCP, but it will not be much of a political force going into the 2019 election if it party cannot start raising significantly more funds than it has in the first three quarters of 2017. I would not be surprised if these embarrassingly low fundraising returns raise questions inside the party about the future of Greg Clark‘s leadership. I expect the influence of the Alberta Together group and the influx of former PC Party officials into the Alberta Party will force the issue at the party’s annual general meeting on November 18, 2017.
- A number of third-party advertisers (frequently referred to by the media as Political Action Committees) raised significant amounts of funds in the third quarter. I hope to delve a little deeper in this issue in a future post.
4 replies on “Alberta NDP tops fundraising for 3rd quarter in a row, UCP expected to catch up in 4th quarter”
I kind of figured that once a bunch of ex-PCers moved to the Alberta party, Clark’s days were numbered anyways.
Although i guess this is as good a justification as any to pull the trigger.
If even a half of the PC donors in Q2 switched to the Alberta Party, that could bump them up to 3rd place in the next quarter, assuming Wildrose and PC’s are pretty much done now. However, it would still be way, way behind the two main parties.
Lets not forget the current Alberta Party leader has a seat in the legislature, so any replacement should either already have a seat too or otherwise already be very high profile to be potentially successful. I suspect that shortens the list of possible viable contenders quite a bit.
Richard Starke might want the job, but his location way out in the boonies on the Saskatchewan border limits his ability to grow the party in Calgary and Edmonton.
The Liberal party isn’t that much healthier than the Alberta party. It’s not just a question of credibility but also infrastructure. Neither have deep bench strength for drawing on funds and personnel provided to MLAs and caucus. If their yearly donations are only in the 100-150k range how much ability will they have to put the necessary organization into place to take advantage of the next election? That’s only a couple staffers and associated equipment. Maybe only a single staffer if there’s any real advertising budget or expenditures.