MacDonald asks Elections Alberta to investigate additional alleged illegal contributions to PCs
Edmonton – Official Opposition Finance Critic Hugh MacDonald has provided Elections Alberta head Brian Fjeldheim with documentation showing that municipal officials across Alberta have used taxpayer dollars to attend partisan Progressive Conservative fundraising events or otherwise contribute to partisan PC activities.
From Athabasca to Whitecourt, municipal officials clearly feel that they must attend PC fundraising events and donate to the PC cause,” MacDonald says. “These contributions are against the law, and Albertans don’t want their money being used this way.”
In one 2009 case, Smoky Lake County voted to provide a $300 sponsorship benefitting the Athabasca-Redwater PC association. Also in 2009, Wetaskiwin council received an invitation to attend the Wetaskiwin-Camrose PC association golf classic and social. In 2007, the County of Camrose voted to send the Reeve (or designate) and his wife to the Battle River-Wainwright PC association’s annual MLA dinner at a cost of $100 per person. The list goes on.
MacDonald says the government is responsible for creating an atmosphere that intimidates public servants into toeing the party line.
“It’s easy for the government to sit on their high horse and tell people not to make illegal contributions, but the fact remains that their party accepted these contributions in the first place – and they are, in fact, soliciting donations by sending town councils invitations to these fundraising events. The government is responsible for setting the tone, and they’ve set a tone that encourages this misuse of taxpayer dollars.”
MacDonald says the ruling Tories have encouraged an atmosphere in which local officials cooperate with the PC party in order to keep infrastructure money and other government benefits flowing to their communities.
“This process has to stop; it’s not fair to the taxpayers or to these municipal officials,” MacDonald says.
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Attached: Letter to Brian Fjeldheim
For more information contact:
Hugh MacDonald, Finance Critic
(780) 914-5270