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With businesses and unions again free to put money behind Alberta political candidates, corporate donations are shaping up to have a big influence on Edmonton’s municipal election this fall.
Financial disclosure statements show that in the first two months of the election campaign, 39 per cent of donations to Edmonton city council candidates came from registered corporations.
Of the 10 political hopefuls who reported fundraising amounts for 2024, seven candidates received corporate funding. In total, corporations have donated $204,687, and 84 per cent of that money, $172,000, went to the mayoral campaign of current Ward pihêsiwin Coun. Tim Cartmell.
Corporations and unions were barred from contributing to candidates in local elections by the former New Democrat government in 2018, but United Conservative Party government amendments to the Local Authorities Election Act in 2024 reversed this ban.
Municipalities across Alberta will hold elections on Oct. 20.
There are increasingly few Canadian jurisdictions that allow entities other than individuals to give to politicians, said Bill Kilgannon, co-author of a study examining municipal campaign fundraising in Alberta’s four biggest cities.
Knowing how difficult it can be for candidates to raise money at the municipal level, the $5,000 corporations and unions can now contribute “makes a huge difference.”
“Albertans, like everywhere else, do not want their politicians to be bought and paid for, and that's why these laws exist, and why it is so important that there be a process for [contributions] to be investigated,” he said.
In a statement, Cartmell said the reintroduction of corporate donations is simply a return to past rules and doesn’t reflect changing values or priorities.
“With regard to corporate donations in my campaign: we are following the law as written. These contributions are within the legal limit and fully disclosed. Our campaign is focused on earning the trust and support of Edmontonians, not special interests — and that’s where our accountability lies,” he said.
In Edmonton’s 2017 municipal election, the last in which corporate and union donations were permitted, 56 per cent of funds raised by winning candidates came from corporations and eight per cent came from unions. The top five donors were all major developers, a trend observed in several of the province’s large and growing cities.
“I've been doing this research for many years and speaking with politicians, and it is clear that developers want developer-friendly councils, so that they can make lots of money,” Kilgannon said. “It's perfectly legal... but it raises the question about how much influence these developers can have.” ![[Tyee]](/design-article.thetyee.ca/ui/img/yellowblob.png){kind=small}
Read more: Alberta
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