Hello Chestermere Strathmore
I hope you have had a wonderful week with the weather doing its best to throw us as many curveballs as possible. I wanted to give a shout-out to so many folks in our riding this week. I know I have said this on countless occasions, but I am truly inspired by all of you and the amazing work you do to build our community.
I apologize for not having written in the past few weeks. Still, as the session was finishing up in Edmonton, I was wrapped up in the many bills that we were debating. As you may have heard, bill 81 was and continues to be a real concern for me and many people in Alberta.
We now have increased our contribution limits as we head into nominations for our various parties. Here is how I understand it. Our maximum contribution to any party in a year is $4243.00 per year for provincial parties. That used to be for political parties, constituency associations, candidates, nomination contestants, and leadership contestants. Now, if we are in a nomination cycle, likely to open up in January, you can raise another $4200.00 to fund the nomination race and self-fund up to 12,500 to run the nomination. That is a lot of money to run a nomination, but that just scratches the surface. The new laws passed this last week allow candidates and donors to buy memberships, $4000.00 worth of 1 one-year memberships in some parties, which is 400 memberships. So, in my family, I could purchase 1,600 memberships. That may seem insignificant, but the reality is you do not require a person’s consent to do this.
There were times when folks could buy memberships, and they only had cash, or a constituency association could put those through on a credit card, but those folks have to be imputed with their names and numbers so that person had to give consent to have it done on their behalf.
Now, I can purchase those memberships without consent. That means that should our nominations, or leadership races go digital, in other words, you register to vote through an online process; once you are in the system, you are given a PIN (pin number) to vote with.
That PIN can be used without your permission as someone could have bought your membership without you knowing, and then they can vote on your behalf, and you would not even know.
This is why I fought for consent in the legislature. There are seven little words to be added to the section that allows this to happen, and we could not even get the amendment on the floor during the committee of the whole. I, along with most Albertans, want “one person, one vote”, at the nomination and only in person in the riding or for the matter of a leadership race. The original bill had no caps on donations, and there was no reporting necessary either. We managed to get a cap and yearly reporting back into the bill, so I am thankful that the Minister accepted some of our amendments. The surplus funds can then go to a particular party, which has always been the case, but now there is a lot more cash at stake, and if you have very many big donors, that money can be easily transferred as a surplus to the party. We have always done quarterly reports in my constituency association, and that it is a lot of work for our hard-working volunteers. We are nothing without our volunteers, and I would like to send a huge shout-out to them and others who help their elected officials. The next concern is that we are no longer accountable to our elections officer during the nomination. If we have an issue, like a person complaining that someone bought a membership in their name without their permission, it is dealt with at the party level. This is really concerning. I will keep you updated on this issue.
I want to congratulate our new Advocate for Persons with Disabilities, Gregory McMeekin, who will work to build relationships with community members and represent the rights and interests of folks with disabilities. The Advocates Office wants to learn about the important issues and help with recommendations to the Government.
The Advocate’s Office acts as a point of contact between the community and the Government. Contact the Office by emailing advocate.disability@gov.ab.ca or calling 1-800-272-8841. Let us know if you require any support related to your disability.
As always, we love to hear from you.
