Political Penalty

A year after a contentious royalty hike, Alberta Tories saw corporate campaign donations nearly cut in half

By Patrycja Romanowska

February 02, 2009

The royalty review was not a factor, the Nexen executive says. But the new regime fueled an industry perception of undue political influence on a cornerstone of provincial economic policy. “Some people would say that the royalty review may have been special interest groups having a disproportionate say over the process and there wasn’t enough input by the industry or else the industry wasn’t listened to or the industry didn’t participate enough.”

Looking at political contributions through a wider lens shows another trend that suggests Miller is right in his belief that attitudes are changing. In every election since 1993, total contributions to the Tories have declined. Corporate campaign contributions have fallen since 1997. At that time, companies armed the PC party with $908,615, well in excess of double the 2008 total.

“This reflects the fact that corporate policy has shifted from supporting particular parties towards supporting the democratic process,” says Miller. Contributions are now set for budget years. Once-only campaign donations are dropping off. The support is spread more evenly among parties.
The changed approach reduces constant “door-knocking” for donations and cleans up old images that industry tries to influence political outcomes. “We don’t try to garner favor,” Miller says. “We try to treat people the way we want to be treated. I think it actually gets us more respect when we come to the table because we are not trying to influence the system.”

Campbell, a former BP public affairs officer, says this strategic change goes a long way to explain the drop in contributions. Companies are less willing to make “value judgments” that support one political regime over another, he says. Corporate support is becoming tied to event attendance. Business people buy tickets, eat dinners and hear speeches. “So there is an actual return for their money,” the Tory party official says.

Mensah points to changes to federal election financing rules that banned all union and corporate contributions and may have impacted provincial donations. “Within industry the federal ban has changed how they give out money,” he says, although in Alberta the change began well before Ottawa’s rules for national fundraising changed in 2006.

All concerned agree that industry’s relations with the provincial Tory government will recover. “We dialogue with regulators and government all the time because it is important for them to understand the industry and they do seek that feedback and engagement in many different forums,” says Miller. It is the lobbyist registry, if anything, that threatens to hurt industry government relations.

Mensah says that the government got the message and is sending back friendly overtures. Stelmach has abandoned his populist leanings and has “come to appreciate the importance of courting industry,” Changes to the royalty regime, including special allowances for deep drilling and lowered “transitional” rates for new wells, are signals that the premier wants to avoid any long-term confrontation. “I think he’s made his plan clear. I think industry is counting on Stelmach as a bulwark in the long-term pressure on the environmental file,” Mensah says. Alberta is back to business as usual and industry will come back with more campaign funding, he predicts.

Campbell says the party was never worried. “Clearly Premier Stelmach resonates with the Alberta voter. He is our greatest asset and so I think our fundraising is going to be just fine.”

When asked whether the party is turning from a steward of industry into a party of the people, Campbell grimaces and insists the Tories have always governed with all provincial interests in mind.

“We’ve had 11 consecutive majority conservative governments under four different premiers,” Campbell says. “I would argue we have always been a party of the people. If we weren’t, we wouldn’t be running majorities. We would be – and rightfully – out on our butts.”

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