An investigation of 10 Tory constituency organizations launched by the province’s chief electoral officer over illegal donations is becoming a political hot potato for Premier Alison Redford’s government.
Earlier this month, Progressive Conservative Party president Bill Smith acknowledged the existence of an investigation in a press release on the party’s website. Smith also directed 73 other constituency organizations to conduct an internal review of donations received over the past 36 months. The 10 constituency organizations under investigation were not revealed.
Many of the most recent allegations involving Tory constituency organizations have come from the Wildrose Alliance Party, who have suggested many communities and organizations feel pressured to donate to the P.C.s, even in contravention of the law.
“I can tell you and anyone on a stack of bibles I’ve never had anything to do with any of those kinds of donations at all, whether it’s a college or a university or anything else, for that matter, even municipalities,” said Little Bow MLA Barry McFarland. “I’ve never, ever, had any donations (of that nature) for our constituency, whether it was for an election or anything else.”
Under provincial law, it is illegal for municipalities, schools, post-secondary institutions and government bodies to make partisan political contributions. School divisions have been "prohibited corporations" since 2004.
“I think the whole idea of them going to anything is to promote their institution,” said McFarland, who suggested there is nothing improper in attending a party fundraiser as an individual, not as an official representative of their respective organization. “I dare say that if the Wildrose Alliance was the government, or the NDP was the government, or the Liberals were the government provincially, that you would see these same bodies going to their leader’s fundraisers. They’re trying to fly their own flag. They’re trying to make everyone aware that they’re still in the world, that it’s not all about the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta. And it’s competitive for them, because they’re trying to get research dollars, and they’re trying to get building upgrades, and they know there are limited budgets — that’s the way it is.”
If an individual or group attempts to bill their attendance at a party fundraiser back through their own organization as an official contribution, that is outside of the scope of party officials, added McFarland.
“If you pay for it yourself, what happens after that — if someone were to try to expense it back through their municipality or their institution, that’s a different story. That’s something that they have to govern themselves, I believe.”
During his tenure as MLA, McFarland reports the Little Bow Progressive Conservative Constituency Association has almost exclusively received donations from individuals in the riding.
“In all the years, and in all of the six elections that I’ve been involved in, I’ve always been amazed. We’ve never had big corporate, or big company, or massive donations. It’s always been the mom and pop, donating $20 or $50 or a $100. That’s all it is, in our riding.”
For McFarland, though the allegations are serious, there is a good deal of pre-election posturing on the part of the Wildrose Alliance Party.
“They’re just looking for things to complain about, and I don’t think they’re giving it a lot of thought because, as I said initially, if they were the government, they’re going to tell these people they can’t attend their functions? I don’t know. They’ll probably say they should never use public money. Well, I don’t know if public money was used.”  
The maximum penalty for an illegal donation under the province’s election legislation is $10,000.