“There was some very vocal reaction and there were certainly some oil and gas companies that didn’t contribute in 2008,” Campbell agrees. “But I believe the premier and his government made the right decisions and this party will deal with it.”

Tory finance director Patricia Godkin adds that the period between the last two Alberta elections was a very “strange time” in party politics. A leadership race with eight candidates, followed by a concerted effort to publicize the new chief, drained the pockets of supporters before the 2008 campaign, she suggests. “When you have change like that you are going to have ups and downs.”

The party officials reject any suggestion that the campaign donations mark a break in relations between the Tories and the oil industry. But Campbell also emphasizes that the Tories need to broaden their fundraising reach into other business sectors.

“There is a lot of talk about how Alberta has to diversify economically outside of the energy industry and this party too has to diversify from a focus on the energy industry,” he says. “Granted, it is our largest industry but there are other industries and there are other areas where this province is going to concentrate and we are going to have to change our fundraising approach to do that.”

Campbell declined to comment on the regional distribution of the funding, saying the party had not made those comparisons. He did say that the historical geographic balance saw 60 per cent of donations come from Calgary. The 2008 campaign nearly reversed the historical ratio, with Edmonton accounting for 54 per cent of the cities’ combined donations.

Eric Miller, vice-president and general counsel for Nexen Inc., one of the energy firms that decreased its contribution, says the action results from a changed philosophy towards campaign donations and should not be interpreted as a political statement. “Historically we gave a little bit more to the Conservative party and then we leveled it off where everybody gets the same over the last three or four years.”

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