Edmonton

Independent MLAs and small parties will see funding slashed after Alberta election

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Legislative committee of NDP and UCP MLAs voted unanimously to cut funding to small caucuses

Alberta Party MLA Greg Clark, left, says the UCP and NDP want a province with only two political parties. UCP MLA Jason Nixon, right, joined the NDP with slashing funding for smaller parties. (Kim Trynacity/CBC)

A legislative committee of MLAs from the governing NDP and official opposition UCP voted unanimously Tuesday to cut funding to smaller caucuses and independent MLAs.

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The standing committee on members' services approved a new funding formula to standardize the method of assigning research dollars and additional remuneration to members who take on added responsibilities in caucuses with four or more members.

The new rules don't go into effect until after the next election, but the move sparked an outcry from independent MLAs and MLAs belonging to smaller caucuses who attended the meeting but were not allowed to vote.

Freedom Conservative Party leader Derek Fildebrandt says the UCP and NDP are colluding to silence small political parties. (CBC)

Freedom Conservative party leader Derek Fildebrandt, MLA for Strathmore-Brooks, accused the NDP and UCP of ganging up on independent members who also work to hold the government to account.

"It's an incredibly arrogant and cowardly attempt to silence their ability to be effective," Fildebrandt said.

"What goes around, comes around," Fildebrandt warned the NDP MLAs on the committee.

"You were once a very small party with very few people, and don't be surprised if you find yourself out in the cold one day," he added.

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After the election, a caucus must have four MLAs to attain official party status, which comes with additional funding for the leader, research dollars, the right to sit on legislative committees and permission to regularly ask questions in the legislature.

Fair system

The new formula will create a "fair, transparent system," says NDP MLA Thomas Dang, who chaired the subcommittee which came up with the recommendation.

"Albertans will know if they elect two members or four members or 54 members exactly what they're going to get," Dang said.

In the past, the decision on how much research funding and who gets it was ad-hoc, Dang said.

"It's sort of just at the whim of the moment who receives very large taxpayer-funded caucus budgets," said Dang.

At times, the meeting of MLAs from all parties broke out in name-calling and accusations reminiscent of the final days of the past fall sitting.

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The funding change was "insulting and problematic," said Robyn Luff, an independent MLA representing Calgary-East.

A former NDP MLA, Luff was forced to apologize after she implied that only those MLAs who aren't part of a large caucus tell the truth.

Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills MLA Nathan Cooper, a member of the UCP, supported the funding changes and objected to Luff's characterization of MLAs being untruthful.

The new system "isn't perfect" but it's an improvement, Cooper said.

The Alberta Party, which has three MLAs in the legislature, would see its funding cut by more than half if the new rules were in place today, said Calgary-Elbow MLA Greg Clark.

"The NDP and UCP have a shared interest in creating a two-party state," Clark said.

"It's an affront to democracy," he added, pointing out neither Brian Mason nor Rachel Notley complained when they received full caucus funding in 2008, when the NDP only had two members in the legislature.