Medicine Hat city council candidates prepare for a debate in this October 2017 file photo. Legislation introduced by the United Conservatives would, among other changes, allow donors to give more money and to multiple campaigns.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
A proposal to change how local elections are run and campaigns for city hall are funded would see donation limits for individuals donating to multiple candidates essentially disappear.
Bill 29, presented Wednesday in the Legislature, also nixes the idea to have campaigns disclose donors prior to Election Day, removes the need for dedicated campaign back accounts, and requires all candidates to donate surpluses over $1,000 to charity rather than keep a war chest for future campaigns.
Municipal Affairs Minister Kacee Madu said the changes would allow candidates to focus on campaigning and “level the playing field” for those challenging incumbents on local council and school boards.
Critics say it reduces transparency and could lead to slate-style politics that would make municipal and school board elections more akin to party politics.
“I want candidates to concentrate on running a campaign,” Madu told reporters before the bill was tabled. “There is nothing they can’t disclose before the elections that they aren’t required to disclose afterwards. Why do we need this red tape?”
Opposition Leader Rachel Notley called the bill “disgraceful” and a way to put “big money – dark money – back into Alberta politics,” she wrote on Wednesday.
“Who has $5,000 to give to one candidate right now? Let alone 14 councillors and one mayor, to take Calgary as an example, plus school trustees.”
The bill would alter the maximum amount of money allowed to one donor, currently $4,000, and allow individuals to donate up to $5,000 to as many candidates as they want.
It would also require campaigns that spend more than $50,000 to provide audited financial statements.
Madu said giving the ability to spend more, but on multiple candidates, would make fundraising easier for first-time candidates,
None of Medicine Hat’s nine current council members and several unsuccessful challengers from 2017 election returned messages from the News seeking comment on the proposal, which would take effect his fall. The next local and school board elections are set for October 2021.
In Medicine Hat, the typical successful campaign for a council seat spent about $5,000 on average in 2013 and 2017, while the single largest donation in the mayoral race was $1,000 when Hatters last went to the polls.
The 2017 mayor’s race also featured a marked drop in spending. Incumbent Ted Clugston spent about $15,000, while three challengers were “self-funded,” meaning they didn’t collect donations, were limited to a $5,000 limit and weren’t subject to disclosure rules. In 2013, three of four mayoral candidates spent about $20,000.
The spending limit for self-funded candidates would be doubled by the new legislation to $10,000.
The new set of changes is the third in four years to the Local Authorities Election Act, and according to the government was done in consultation with civic leaders in a process that began in February.
The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association is cited as a main supporter of the changes in a government release outlining the bill’s intentions.
Later in the day however, AUMA issued a statement that it supports certain unnamed “practical changes … (but) some of the amendments give us pause.”
“It is paramount that local elections remain local,” read a response from the AUMA after the bill was introduced, and adds, “Alberta’s municipalities need their own fair deal from the government of Alberta.”
Medicine Hat’s city clerk Angela Cruickshank doubles as the chief returning officer, and said this week she required some time to study the bill before commenting. She previously told the News that some financial transparency requirements brought in by the previous NDP Government were difficult to enforce at the local level. That included donation limits for donors while local officials don’t have a system to cross reference them with other jurisdictions.
The bill would also see the legal “campaign period” changed to begin on the preceding January 1, and the time between nomination day and election day is shortened to four weeks from six.
Local third-party advertisers would be limited to supporting or criticizing particular candidates, not issues, though their ability to operate outside the campaign period will expand. Provincial third-party campaigns could operate from May 1 to the election, but have to register provincially.
Also, in terms of voter identification, a person who provides a voucher for someone without identification will be limited to vouching for one person or members of a single household.
