Alberta Grits are demanding an overhaul of the province's election finances disclosure law after Elections Alberta revealed the Tories haven't filed required financial reports for nearly two decades. "There needs to be a complete review and overhaul," said Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald. "Things have to be more tightly controlled and they have to be more rigidly enforced." MacDonald was stunned to discover yesterday that the Tory party failed to file mandatory reports to Elections Alberta since 1987 and no one noticed until he asked to see the documents. "This party has been governing the province during all this time," he said.How it could be overlooked that they didn't file an annual report on their foundation fund is unbelievable." The situation involves a secret "foundation fund" the party was allowed to keep after the financial disclosure law was passed in 1978, provided it filed annual reports on transfers from it. Deputy Electoral Officer Bill Sage told the Sun he failed to notice that the statements stopped coming. "I was responsible for it. I was the director of financial operations at the time. It was something that escaped me and I didn't realize it until just recently."
Calgary Herald
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach should reveal the size of a decades-old Progressive Conservative party trust fund that's been pumping as much as $3 million into the Tory warchest since 1987, opposition parties say. The governing party appears to have not properly reported the fund's activities since then, something both Elections Alberta and the party itself are investigating. The party has been allowed to keep this "foundation" fund - but not deposit new money into it - since 1977, when elections finance laws brought transparency to Alberta political fundraising.
The same laws also let a party keep secret how rich the fund is. Liberal legislature member Hugh MacDonald figures it could be worth millions, since it has accrued annual interest of more than $100,000 several times, and transferred that to party coffers for campaign use or other functions. "Mr. Stelmach has said he wants openness and transparency," MacDonald said. "Well, how much money do they have?" The premier admitted he knew little about the financial processes, but was open to changing the policy.
"If it's not following the rules, we will follow the rules, and if there's some issue with the rules, we'll look at how the rules can be changed," Stelmach told reporters Friday. MacDonald's inquiries about the Tories' little known fund led Elections Alberta to admit it has no record of the party filing its annual disclosure statement regarding the foundation fund for nearly 20 years.
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