Elections Alberta recently updated their records for quarterly contributions of various provincial political parties, and the NDP are in the lead. By a lot.
According to these records, the Alberta NDP received just under $1.2 million during the first quarter of 2021, most of which came from contributions that were $250 or less. Those contributions made up about $809,000—or 68%—of the total received.
The remainder—$377,000—were from 676 contributions that were each above $250, averaging about $560 per contribution. Of those, 8 contributed the maximum allowed for the year: $4,243.
- Lorne Dach of Edmonton
- Thomas Dang of Edmonton
- Sylvia Flood of Edmonton
- Mike Gardner of Calgary
- Barb Howard of Calgary
- Fred Kreiner of Edmonton
- David Mayhood of Calgary
- Chandra Thomas of Calgary
Coming in a distant second place were the UCP, who brought in nearly $522,000, only 44% of what the NDP did. In contrast to the NDP, most of the UCP’s donations came from large donations—$304,890.66, or about 59%—from 360 persons, for an average of $846.82 per person.
Of those who made large donations, 17 maxed out their contributions:
- Donald, Archibald of Calgary
- Rene Blais of Grande Prairie
- Jeanette Budzinski of Edmonton
- Barbara Harris of Edmonton
- Richard Haskayne of Calgary
- Nate Horner of Pollockville
- Ray Knelsen of La Crete
- Arthur Korpach of Calgary
- John Langille of Calgary
- Frederick Mannix of Calgary
- Maurice McCaig of Calgary
- James Pasieka of Calgary
- Bruce Sembaliuk of Edmonton
- Tyler Shandro of Calgary
- Travis Toews of Beaverlodge
- Calvin Wenzel of Calgary
- Grant Wilde of Calgary
The Alberta Party received $43,394.09 in donations during the same period, with roughly half made up of donations that were $250 or less and half above $250. Their largest contributor was Francis Saville of Redwood Meadows, who donated $4,000. Their large donations came from 27 people, with an average of $647.15.
Fourth place went to the Pro-Life Alberta Political Association, which raised $33,261 last quarter, the vast majority of which came from donations of under $250. In fact, only 7 people contributed more than that, and none of them were over $500. This party was created in 2017, after anti-abortion activist Jeremy Fraser became leader of the Alberta Social Credit Party and changed its name.
The Wildrose Independence Party, created just last year following a merger between the Freedom Conservative Party and Wexit Alberta, was in fifth place, having received $32,271 in donations. Just over $20,000 came from small donations. The remaining $12,200 came from 21 donations, for an average of $580.95. The largest donor was Gary Kalynchuk of Edmonton, who donated $1,500.
In sixth place were the Liberals, who collected $31,798.53 in total, with $13,355.53 coming from small donations and $18,443 from 20 large donations. Two of their donors have already maxed out their donations for the year: Ian & Patricia Cartwright, both of which are from Calgary. The Liberals’ large donations averaged $922.15 per person and came from 20 people.
The Green Party came in second lowest with less than $4,000 in contributions, $1,480 coming from small donations and just under $2,500 from large ones. Those large donations came from just 4 people. The largest donation came from Marjorie Ward, who donated $1,500.
Of all the parties that reported having received contributions last quarter, the Independence Party received the least. They received just under $1,500, about $1,200 coming from small donations. Only one donation was over $250, but just barely.
