Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater New Democratic Party candidate Mandy Melnyk and Wildrose candidate Travis Olson both agree that public institutions donating to a political party is wrong.
CBC investigative reporter Charles Rusnell released a story last Wednesday outing Athabasca University for making donations to the Progressive Conservative Party. The story told of AU donating upwards of $10,000 to the PC party from 2006 to 2008.
"This incident is proof that 40 years of Progressive Conservative rule is enough, " Melynk said. "An MLA 's responsibility is to provide leadership, ask questions and to advocate on behalf of all constituents, not just the ones that pay patronage to the party. "
Olson, who will run against Melnyk and incumbent PC MLA Jeff Johnson in the coming provincial election, agrees with his opponent on this issue at least.
"It is a really dangerous thing for democracy when we start to go down this path that we 're going. "
Olson said he reacted to the story in a way any opposition party would.
"I think it 's important that every single person in the riding watch the news (and) make their own opinion of what they thought about the activity, " Olson said.
"You need to ask yourself, do the PCs deserve another majority government? "
Melynk said the donations from AU to the PC party fit a pattern most of Alberta has been following.
"In this one-party province … people feel it 's like a parent-child relationship where they have to pay patronage to the Conservative Party to get attention or to feel like they 're in the good books, " said Melnyk.
"Otherwise, they won 't get any attention from their MLA. "
Melynk said the PC party knew they shouldn 't accept the donations at the time they were made.
"If we can 't trust our elected officials to know the rules, that 's pretty bad, " she said. "The Tories knew they shouldn 't have taken that money, but they did. It 's good that they 're giving it back, but the only reason they 're doing it is because they got caught. "
The cheques were not signed to the PC party from the university in most cases. Rather, it was mostly cases of employees attending functions and then expensing them back to the university.
Regardless, it 's a practice neither Melnyk nor Olson is comfortable with.
"It 's time for a new direction in the legislature, " Melynk said. "Albertans are sick of this kind of government. They 're tired of this kind of story. Everybody has to feel that they have an equal opportunity to be heard by their MLA, and that's what I will provide. "
Olson said he was disappointed to hear about the donations.
"The Athabasca University is a gem of our community, " he said. "It speaks to the bigger question of why organizations like AU feel that they must risk their reputation by breaking the law to try to find favour with the governing PCs. "
Olson said he wants everyone to be aware of the issue, and how the donations are not few and far between.
"Alberta 's chief electoral officer has uncovered 23 cases of illegal political donations by municipalities and other public institutions, and begun laying penalties as its investigation into questionable contributions continues, " he said.
"I think everybody needs to know and make up their own mind by watching an organization like CBC conducting interviews. "
