Premier Danielle Smith raised nearly $1.4 million for UCP leadership campaign

The 10 contenders vying to lead the United Conservative Party collectively spent more than $4.4 million on their campaigns, newly released information from Elections Alberta shows.

Of the seven candidates who met the party's entrance requirements and paid a $175,000 fee, six of them went into debt. Now finance minister and leadership runner-up Travis Toews was the sole candidate to post a surplus — more than $33,000.

Toews and the race's winner, Premier Danielle Smith, both raised more than $1 million each in donations for their bids to lead the party.

"They were running to become premier of the province and that's a pretty big prize," said University of Calgary political science professor Lisa Young.

"And it was a close race, as we saw."

Smith won the October 2022 contest on the sixth ballot with 53.3 per cent of the vote. Her campaign ended with a nearly $27,000 deficit, which is about two per cent of the funds she raised.

Collectively, the 10 candidates raised and spent almost three times as much money as the five leadership hopefuls in the 2017 contest. In that race, the UCP's first leader, Jason Kenney, raised and spent $687,000. All the candidates broke even.

Young said she's not surprised to see candidates spend more this time since the winner would become premier, rather than leader of the Opposition, as was the case in 2017.

Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt also points to relaxed election financing laws providing political donors more flexibility to give more to a leadership campaign.

In 2021, the legislature amended the Elections Financing and Disclosure Contribution Act to allow a donor to give up to $4,000 to candidates running for party nominations in individual ridings. Those contributions used to be considered part of the $4,300 maximum contribution allowed annually to any provincial political candidates.

The cost to enter the 2022 UCP leadership race was also higher: the fee was $175,000 last year, compared to $95,000 for 2017.

Bratt pointed to the unusual trend of the Opposition NDP out-fundraising the governing UCP while Kenney was premier and his popularity began to wither. He said that time is over and conservative donors are back.

"The forces that drove out Jason Kenney were highly mobilized to enter the leadership race with money," Bratt said, adding that Smith and now Jobs, Economy and Northern Development Minister Brian Jean were the beneficiaries of most of that cash.

Aheer says she's on track to pay deficit

Both parties report fundraising around $7 million each in 2022. The UCP's number does not include money spent on leadership campaigns.

With citizens now allowed to donate a combined $8,300 a year to nomination candidates as well as leadership contenders, political parties and candidates on election ballots, Young says it raises questions about whether wealthy donors are more able to buy influence with Alberta politicians.

Chestermere-Strathmore MLA Leela Aheer, who was eliminated from the UCP leadership race after coming in last on the first ballot, reported a campaign deficit of more than $172,000, which was almost three times as much as she fundraised.

In a Thursday interview, Aheer said that number was as of early December, and she has now collected enough contributions to lower her deficit to around $60,000. Aheer said some supporters promised donations but did not hand over the contributions until much later.

An Elections Alberta spokesperson said in an email that candidates can still accept donations and fundraise money for three months after filing their financial reports — in this case, until May.

Aheer said she is not planning to run in the 2023 provincial election. She is still collecting contributions from people she says believed in her campaign and want to ensure she's in good standing — potentially to run for office at another level of government.