Alberta legislature. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Province proposes new rules around local election campaign financing

Jun 24, 2020 | 3:26 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The Government of Alberta has introduced several proposed changes to the Local Authorities Election Amendment Act.

Barry Morishita, President of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) says he welcomes the additions and alterations to Bill 29.

“AUMA and its members support many of these practical changes to the Local Authorities Election Act that enable fair, transparent elections. It is paramount that local elections remain local, and that amendments preserve the non-partisan, democratic processes that Albertans expect.”

Bill 29 was last updated in 2018 under the NDP, but the current UCP government claims those failed to address many critical gaps.

Some of the proposed amendments to municipal and school board elections include:

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• Campaign surpluses of over $1,000 will be donated to charity
• Albertans can donate to as many candidates as they choose, up to $5,000 per candidate
• The definition of “political advertising” has been removed from the act.
  • The province says this will protect freedom of speech for third-party advertisers like unions and corporations
• Candidates can self-finance up to $10,000 per year for their campaigns
• The limit potential candidates can raise outside of the campaign period will rise from $2,000 to $5,000
• Candidates will not have to file any disclosures before election day
  • Those who receive at least $50,000 in contributions or spend that amount will have to have a chartered professional accountant review their financial statements before submitting them to the municipality or school board

“The next round of local elections will be critical for the future of Alberta,” says Municipal Affairs Minister Kaycee Madu. “These changes are about levelling the playing field, so the best candidates for local office – regardless of where they stand on the political spectrum – are running and winning.”

In a separate media release, the AUMA says some of these amendments “give us pause,” but they do support the changes overall.

They will take some time to review the amendments further to see if they meet their standards for fair local elections.

If approved, the new rules under Bill 29 would take effect on September 1, 2020.

More details on Bill 29 here.