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“To help us do that, I urge all Progressive Conservative Constituency Associations to expedite the wind up of their CA and send their funds into the central party,” said Stevenson.

Under the unification agreement, the PC and Wildrose parties continue to exist along with the new UCP, with all three parties governed by the UCP’s interim board. Stevenson serves on the board as the treasurer for all three parties.

But while there is overlap between the three entities, provincial law forbids the transfer of assets between parties, meaning neither Wildrose’s financial assets nor money raised by the UCP can be used to pay off the PC debt.

Len Thom, the former PC party president who is now vice-chair of the UCP, said PC constituency associations have an estimated $800,000 in financial assets that can be utilized.

“A lot of that money is sort of frozen and so the best thing we think that can happen for money in constituency associations is to come back into the central bank account of the PCs and pay off that existing debt,” he said.

Janice Harrington, interim executive director of the UCP, said Friday that some constituency associations have already turned over money to help settle the debt while others have indicated they will do so, though she could provide no figures.

The issue has arisen within the ranks of the PC party — which governed Alberta for four decades — in the past. In 2013 while in government, the party scrapped a plan to take a 10 per cent cut of donations from constituency associations after it raised the ire of local PC officials.

However, Harrington, a former PC board member, said no Tory constituency associations have currently indicated they will refuse to give their financial assets to the party.

If the constituency association retains the money and is de-registered, the funds are turned over to the province. The organization could also use the money for political purposes in the riding but would face restrictions, said Stevenson in his letter.

The memo asks all Tory constituency associations to decide by Sept. 16 which course of action it will follow.

jwood@postmedia.com