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The province announced Bill 29 this week. These changes reduce transparency by stating candidates don’t have to disclose donations until after the election & allow third-parties advertisers to not disclose any donations as long as they get less than $350,000. #ableg #yegcc #yyccc
The changes also heavily advantage incumbents like me. Instead of putting a province-wide cap on how much a person can donate, like we have provincially, the wealthiest people can now donate $5,000/person to as many candidates as they want. #ableg #abpoli #yegcc #yegvote #yyccc
Think about that. The vast majority of Albertans are unlikely to be able to donate $5,000 total & yet these rules, just like the old rules, allow those with the most money to finance as many campaigns as they want. How is that reasonable? #ableg #abpoli #yegcc #yegvote #yyccc
The new rules look just like the old rules with less transparency. If you are trying to unseat an incumbent, your job just became much harder unless you happen to know a few really wealthy people. Money doesn’t win elections but it can certainly create an advantage. #ableg #yegcc
And let’s not forget, the survey results that thousands of Albertans filled out were not made public when Bill 29 was released? Why? For something as important as changes to our local democracy, we should know what the public said. #ableg #abpoli #yegcc #yegvote #yyccc
Why wasn’t an independent citizen panel formed to engage experts & the public while also researching best practices? We’ve used so many panels this past year but not for setting the rules of our local elections? That should have been a requirement. #ableg #abpoli #yegcc #yegvote
