This past January, Elections Alberta updated their year-to-date quarterly report for donations to political parties in 2020, and there are a few things that seem off.
According to the Elections Alberta website, “the maximum a party can receive is $4,243 per year per person”. In fact, that $4,243 per year is for parties, constituencies, candidates, nomination contests, and leadership contests. Combined.
Yet, there were several donors who contributed more than this amount in 2020.
Take a look at these UCP donors, for example.
| Contributor | Location | Quarter 1 | Quarter 2 | Quarter 3 | Quarter 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Fawcett | Calgary | $4,000.00 | $4,243.00 | $8,243.00 | ||
| Andrea Hood | Calgary | $4,000.00 | $4,243.00 | $8,243.00 | ||
| David Hood | Calgary | $4,000.00 | $4,243.00 | $8,243.00 | ||
| Victor Budzinski | Edmonton | $4,000.00 | $4,000.00 | $8,000.00 | ||
| Hal Danchilla | Edmonton | $3,743.00 | $3,743.00 | $7,486.00 | ||
| Joan Donald | Red Deer | $3,000.00 | $1,000.00 | $3,000.00 | $7,000.00 | |
| Brian Felesky | Calgary | $3,000.00 | $1,243.00 | $1,243.00 | $5,486.00 | |
| Donna Remington | Calgary | $4,000.00 | $1,000.00 | $5,000.00 | ||
| Hanh Nguyen | Calgary | $1,534.50 | $1,908.50 | $1,500.00 | $4,943.00 | |
| Matthew Brister | Calgary | $150.00 | $2,000.00 | $2,500.00 | $4,650.00 | |
| Susan Renton | Calgary | $3,000.00 | $1,000.00 | $500.00 | $4,500.00 |
We can clearly see that these 11 donors contributed more than $4,243 last year.
FYI, Andrea and David Hood are spouses.
One possibility is that part of the donations were meant for last year. Except several of the donors contributed significant amounts last year as well.
| Michael Fawcett | $4,000.00 |
| Andrea Hood | $4,000.00 |
| David Hood | $4,000.00 |
| Donna Remington | $4,000.00 |
As we see here, all 4 of these donors had only $243 remaining from 2019, and that wouldn’t have been enough to cover the amounts they over contributed by in 2020. The first three, for example, all donated $4,000 over the limit in 2020.
Also, even though Joan Donald didn’t contribute anything in 2019, her husband Jack had donated $4,000 that year.
No other party had donations from a single person that were more than $4,243. Although there were some parties where spouses both contributed $4,243 to the party (such as the Liberals and the NDP).
According to a tweet sent by Elections Alberta last summer, parties have 30 days after filing to correct any over-contributions.
The deadline for filing fourth quarter reports is the 15 January following the end of the fourth quarter. 30 days from 15 January would be 14 February. The quarterly report was dated 21 January with data effective of 19 January. So, it’s possible changes are being made to these filings to ensure they adhere to all donation guidelines.
Hopefully the report will be updated with the final numbers soon.
2 replies on “11 UCP donors gave more than the maximum allowed in 2020”
Rules? UCP don’t follow rules. Rules are for suckers.
You should calculate the Crony Ratio. How much government (tax-payer) money does the UCP give to their donors in return for the payments to the UCP? In the UK the Crony Ratio is 100 to 1, for every £ contributed to the Conservatives the donors get 100£ from the government. How is that working in Alberta?