PC association audited by Elections Alberta
Richard Froese
for Smoky River Express
Dunvegan – Central Peace Progressive Conservative Association president Roch Bremont of Falher remains confident that the association will be cleared of any wrongdoing as one of 10 provincial PC riding associations being audited by Elections Alberta for allegedly accepting prohibited donations.
“They’re checking to see if we do everything legal and proper – everything will be okay,” said Bremont.
“We submitted our financial statements and we haven’t heard back from Elections Alberta.”
Allegations stem from an incident last fall when it was reported that the chief administrative officer for the Town of St. Paul had given $500 by the town to pay for his and others’ participation in a golf tournament hosted by Lac la Biche – St. Paul MLA Ray Danyluk.
Under law, municipalities, school division and other government bodies are prohibited from donating to partisan political parties.
“We have never accepted any donations from municipalities – towns, villages, municipal districts and counties,” said Bremont, who noted that the audit has been completed although no response has been issued by Elections Alberta.
Eventually, the chief electoral officer ordered an investigation into allegations by 10 PC constituency associations.
“We welcome the Elections Alberta decision to review and ensure the systems are working well,” said Bill Smith, president of the PCAA which administers all receipting of donations to constituency associations.
“As a political party in Alberta, we are governed by both strict rules in legislation and our own strict belief that as a party honoured with being elected by Albertans to govern, we must set the highest standard for transparency,” he said in a press release posted on the PCAA website.
Local and provincial PCAA personnel are committed to cooperate in this process.
“Our leader, Premier Alison Redford and I are in complete agreement that we will fully cooperate as always with this process and ensure that if mistakes were made, that we would stand up and admit so, create processes to ensure it doesn’t happen again, and continue to work to grow the PC brand in Alberta,” said Smith.
These select PC associations are required to review their records of the past three years in order to “be in a position to assure me that you are confident all donations are appropriate and have been handled correctly,” said Smith.
When constituency associations host fundraising events, letters are regularly sent to municipalities and outline the structure of donations.
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