The working relationship between local elected officials and land developers traditionally gets quite close, especially among the more active firms that build communities, jump-start the economy and pad city coffers with new property tax revenues. Getting new neighbourhoods off the ground requires a certain amount of face time with council in chambers and invariably involves even more contact behind the scenes as ideas and common goals are shared. It’s no surprise then that land developers take an active interest in the cities in which they’ve invested time and dollars, including hitching to election candidates they feel best represent their interests.
Developers are big-time contributors during elections, be it in St. Albert or any growing municipality in Canada, a form of lobbying that occurs at every political level. A review of campaign contributors from the 2010 municipal election in St. Albert underscores just how commonplace this relationship is. Twelve of the top 15 corporate donors were land developers or real estate firms, giving slightly more than $24,000 to five of the seven members of city council and even more to other candidates not elected. One unsuccessful candidate, James Burrows, as big a booster for growth and development as anyone on council recently, took in about $6,300 in donations, nearly all of which came from developers or builders.
No one raised more donations than Mayor Nolan Crouse who took in almost $48,000 — more than double anyone else — and spent $28,000. Of the dollars raised, a significant portion came from the development industry, including companies with a stake in city council decisions. His largest single donation, $5,000, came from Ever Green Ecological Services, the firm hired last term to run St. Albert’s curbside recycling program. The company has also bid for the city’s organics waste contract, which should be awarded soon. Rampart Capital, the company that has aggressively promoted its Avenir development proposed for St. Albert’s northwest corner, was the most active donor in the election, giving $7,500 to six candidates, including $2,500 to Crouse. Landrex, always an active election contributor in St. Albert, Morinville and Sturgeon County, donated about $3,900 through it and subsidiary companies to four candidates: James Burrows, Nolan Crouse, Roger Lemieux and Gareth Jones. Last year city council approved Landrex’s Erin Ridge North development, now under construction. West Edmonton Mall Property — owned by Triple Five Corp., which hopes to receive approval for a development in the north — gave $2,500 to Crouse.
While no one is suggesting these transactions represent anything underhanded, the optics of accepting donations from companies, especially ones with projects still up for approval or vying for contracts, does raise questions about what ethical line should be drawn in the sand for candidates. There are no rules in Alberta’s recently updated local elections law that specifically target how much companies can contribute to municipal campaigns, outside of limits that cap contributions at $5,000 per donor. Other cities and provinces set much lower ceilings for donations. Canada’s largest metropolitan area, Toronto, caps donations to mayoral candidates at $2,500, while the maximum for a councillor is $750. Winnipeg has a cap of $1,500 and $750 for mayoral and councillor candidates respectively. Provincial rules in Ontario also forbid a candidate from accepting donations outside the official campaign period, which begins after nomination day, a stark contrast from Alberta where, in the two major big-spending cities in particular, donations trickle in all three years.
Cleary a $5,000 contribution from a company or individual won’t buy an election, but if capping donations at a much smaller sum can help eliminate the perception of influence it’s a worthwhile pursuit. Unfortunately that might be a lot to ask of the provincial government, especially considering Tory leadership candidates aren’t keen on disclosing donors for their respective campaigns. But even if the election law isn’t changed, local candidates should take responsibility and seriously vet where their dollars are coming from and why. City council is elected to represent everyone and all seven members should hold themselves to the highest standard to represent the best of us.
