UCP defends membership purchasing rules after late-night amendment

Dave Hanson, along with fellow government MLAs Leela Aheer and Richard Gotfired, all voted against the bill.

Alberta’s United Conservative Party government is defending changes to who can buy how many party memberships, following a late-night legislative session that ended in the early hours of Wednesday morning. 

Bill 81, the Election Statutes Amendment Act, calls for a series of major changes around election financing, sets a fixed election date, and changes the voting process and was passed at close to 3 a.m. 

It drew criticism for changes to rules that the Opposition says allows an individual to buy party memberships for multiple other people.

Some government members objected to the changes, including United Conservative MLA Dave Hanson, who attempted to further amend the bill so permission would need to be secured from a person in order to buy them a membership.

His efforts were unsuccessful following an animated debate in the legislature, with Hanson later accusing his own party’s MLAs of stalling. 

Government house leader Jason Nixon rejected that criticism later Wednesday morning. 

“What you saw last night is democracy and a big-tent party, and a big-tent coalition working together to be able to make sure members can express the views they may be hearing,” he said.