Progressive Conservative candidates going into the last election in Sturgeon County had a big financial advantage over their opponents, but even those opponents say money didn’t have a big impact on the race.
According to financial disclosures released last week, the PCs had a significant financial advantage over their opponents.
The financial statements represent the situation as of the end of 2011 and don’t include election fundraising or any money raised this year.
In Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock, outgoing MLA Ken Kowalski left behind $262,215 in his constituency association for incoming candidate Maureen Kubinec.
Kubinec said the association has had strong local representation in Kowalski and has had a strong constituency association board.
“We have to remember that was many years worth of fundraising activities.”
Other parties in the riding had a lot less on hand. The Wildrose association had $5,629 coming into 2012, the Liberals had $1,648, the Alberta Party Constituency Association, which did not field a candidate, had $25 and the NDP campaign was starting at $0.
Despite the financial discrepancy, Wildrose candidate Link Byfield said his constituency raised a lot of money in 2012 leading up to the vote.
“I think Maureen and I spent about the same amount in this campaign.”
He said to fully spend the local PC association’s war chest on one election would make them look reckless and undisciplined.
“They will never spend that much in a campaign and if they ever did it would go against them.”
While election-spending returns aren’t in, Kubinec said her campaign did not break the bank or make a significant dent in the constituency savings.
The constituency association, not the candidate, is the ultimate controller of the funds and Kubinec said the constituency association didn’t get into the position it is in by spending willy-nilly.
“We worked within a budget, they didn’t give us free rein.”
In Sturgeon’s other riding, Athabasca-Sturgeon, a similar but not as large fiscal disparity played out.
The PC association had $47,562, well ahead of the $15,799 the Wildrose campaign had on hand, with the NDP coming in at $2,236 and the Liberals having $1,299.
Wildrose candidate Travis Olson said by the time the campaign rolled around he didn’t feel significantly outspent. He also said money only takes a campaign so far.
“I think the biggest part, more important than the dollars, is the volunteers.”
Olson said he would like some changes to the way campaigns are funded and would like to see less money from unions and corporations coming in both at the party level and constituency association.
“It should be individuals who are donating to political campaigns,” he said. “It just gives (unions and corporations) too much influence.”
Byfield said with some tweaks he is largely comfortable with the system the province has today.
“Alberta is pretty good in that it wants to know who is giving the money and puts a limit on how much money is being donated.”
Both local races were relatively close between the two campaigns with Kubinec winning by just a few hundred votes. She said she doesn’t believe it was dollars that changed the tide.
“The issues are what brought out the tightness of the races.”
