Tory candidates should fundraise only in Alberta: Hancock

Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Dave Hancock said Thursday that he wouldn't consider raising money for his campaign outside Alberta.

Two other candidates are fundraising outside the province.

Ted Mortonwill attend a $1,500-a-table lunch in Vancouver onFriday. Jim Dinning's supporters have fundraising events set for Winnipeg and Toronto later this month.

"I don't think it's either necessary or appropriate to be seeking support outside the province for something which is a process which involves the party within the province," said Hancock.

Morton said he thinks it's fine to accept money from like-minded people in the western provinces. "Unlike one of the other candidates, who I won't name, I'm not going out there to talk to corporations who do business in Alberta," he said. "I'm going out there to talk to people who ... share my belief that the future well-being of Canada is based on the future well-being of the west."

Nothing in the Alberta Conservative Party rules prohibits collecting dollars outside the province.University of Alberta political scientist Steve Patten thinks that's a mistake.

"At the federal level, they put in place rules that constrain how you raise money and spend money in nominations and leadership races. We haven't gone anywhere near that in Alberta," Patten said.