Oilpatch funds balloon for pro-Smith political group after she supports royalty break ableg abpoli
Elections Alberta records and an analysis by The Canadian Press suggest donations to the Alberta First Initiative, a pro-Smith advocacy group, increased eightfold from companies associated with the energy industry after Smith became premier. While the Initiative says it does not support RStar, its founder previously worked with a group that promoted it.Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Calgary Herald, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.
For more than a year, Smith and her cabinet have been outspoken advocates of the plan, which would enable companies to use reclamation spending to gain credits against future royalty payments, despite that reclamation being a condition of their original drilling licence. Lee is also the co-founder with Kris Kinnear of Sustaining Alberta’s Energy Network, which has long pushed RStar.
Text messages sent by someone saying they represent the Initiative, captured by the NDP, suggest the group was active in Smith’s campaign. Lee said the Initiative’s work during that campaign was limited to general policy surveys “that had nothing to do with any candidate running at the time.” Nearly one-third of the Initiative’s donations were for the $30,000 maximum. No donation was smaller than $5,000.Lee said no UCP officials are involved with the Initiative, nor does he meet with government staff.Article contentElections Alberta says the next wealthiest groups at the end of 2022 were Shaping Alberta’s Future, which collected just over $224,000, Alberta Proud with almost $29,000 and Take Back Alberta with $22,300.
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