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LEGISLATUREOFFICE: CONSITITUENCYOFFICE:

#502A,LegislatureAnnex #A210,160090AvenueSW

9718107Street Calgary,AB T2V5A8

Edmonton,AB T5K1E4

Tel:(780)6383504 Tel:(403)2165421

Fax:(780)6383506 Fax:(403)2165423

PaulHinman

CalgaryGlenmoreConstituency

ActingLeaderfortheWildroseAllianceCaucusinallmatterspertainingtothe

LegislativeAssemblyofAlberta

May28,2010

DearMembersoftheMembersServicesCommittee:

Inthe

letter

you

received

from

me

in

advance

of

the

April

26,

2010

meeting

of

the

Member

Services

Committee(MSC),andinourpresentationatthatmeeting,youwillrecallthatIoutlinedthehistoryof

theAlbertaLegislatureswellestablishedpractiseofprovidingfullresearchandcommunicationsfunding

tocaucuspartiesregardlessoftheirsize.Whatwasin1986calledanoppositioncaucusallowancehas

nowcometobecalledaLeadersOfficeAllowance,butthefunctionofitsupportingopposition

caucusesintheirvitaldemocraticrolehasneverchanged. TheSpeaker(andChairoftheMembers

ServicesCommittee)respondedtoourrequestinJanuarythathecouldnotgrantusthisfunding,saying

insteadthatitwouldhavetobedecidedbythiscommittee.Wehavebeenlookingforwardtohis

invitationtotakeuptheissuewiththiscommitteesincethattime.

Inthisletterwewillfollowuponsomeofthepointsraisedinthelastmeeting.

StatusofLeader

Aswenotedinthelastmeeting,nopartyhaseverhadanypartoftheirfundingcontingentonwhethertheirpartyleaderwaselectedornot.Wecanfindnogroundsineitherthemotionsordebatesfromthis

committeefortheinterpretationthatthisisrelevanttoacaucusfunding. Inoursystemtherewill

inevitablybecaseswhereacaucusisledbyaninterimoractingleaderwhenaleaderresignsoraftera

nonMLAwinsapartysleadership. Caucusfundingcannotbepredicateduponsomethingasfluidas

this. Therehasneverbeenamotionpassedbythiscommitteethatinanywaysuggeststhatitshould

be.

Infact,astheClerkspresentationfromlastmeetingmadeclear,thereareanumberofcasesinour

historywhere

caucuses

have

been

led

in

the

legislature

by

someone

who

is

not

the

leader

of

the

party:

neverhasthiscauseddiscriminationagainstacaucusintermsofbudget. Themostgermaneprecedent

foroursituationwaswhenGrantMitchellsteppeddownasLiberalleader. NotonlydidtheLiberal

caucuscontinuetoreceiveitsfullfunding,butHowardSaperswasimmediatelygrantedtheleaders

stipend(thelatterwhichtheWildroseAllianceisnotrequestingatthistimegivenwearenotanofficial

partyof4ormoreMLAs). ThissituationdidnotchangeevenafterNancyMacbethwasselectedastheir

newpartyleader,despitethefactthatonthedateshebecameleadershewasnotanelectedMLA.

WealsonotedthecaseswhereanNDPcaucusoftwocontinuedtoreceiveitsfullcaucusallowance

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(includingtheleadersallowance)whenitdidnothaveapartyleaderelectedtothehouse(1982,

2000). ItisworthaddingthatshouldtheCommitteedecideagainstourrequest,itwillcreateaperverse

incentiveforsmallpartiestoselectnewleadersonlyfromtheirexistingstockofMLAsforfearoflosing

theirlegislativeresources. Again,thiswouldsetanundemocraticprecedent.

Itisalsoimpossibletoestablishlegitimategroundsforinsistingthatalegislativeleaderalsobeaparty

leaderwithoutformingthelogicalconclusionthatthislegislativeallowanceisintendedtosubsidizepartyactivities(whichis,ofcourse,illegalunderourlaws).Itwould,ineffect,meanthatastrictlyparty

activity(selectingapartyleader)wouldaffectpurelylegislativeactivitiesandbudgets.AsthisChairand

LegislativeAssemblyOfficestaffspendagreatdealoftimeandeffortseparatingpartyandlegislative

activities,itseemscompletelyillogicaltodenycaucusfundingbasedontheoutcomeofapoliticalparty

decision. I,asActingLeaderfortheWildroseAllianceCaucusinallthingspertainingtotheLegislative

AssemblyofAlberta,haveallthesamelegislativedutiesdemandedoftheleaderoftheNDPinleading

hiscaucus,andthereforeshouldbeentitledtothesamesupportfromthelegislatureforthesame.

Budget

Lastmeeting

the

issue

of

whether

additional

caucus

funding

should

be

provided

given

that

Budget

2010

hadalreadybeenpassedwasraisedbythememberfromLeducBeaumontDevon. Letitfirstbe

pointedoutthatourcaucusgrewtothreemembersonJanuary4,2010.Inthatsamemonth,twoletters

weresenttotheChairoftheMSCrequestingfullcaucusfunding. TheChair,inaletterdatedFebruary

1,2010,deniedtherequestforincreasedfunding,butstatedhewaspreparedtoconveneameetingof

thecommitteeattheappropriatetimetoprovide(theWRAcaucus)withtheopportunitytomakethe

casetothecommittee. Needlesstosay,ourcaucuswasdeniedthatmeetingpriortothepassageof

Budget2010.ItisunfairforgovernmentmembersoftheMSCtosuggestthatincreasingourcaucus

fundinginthissituationwouldbedifficultgiventhatBudget2010hadalreadypassed,giventhata

meetingpreBudget2010wasnotgrantedwhenaskedfor.Iwouldalsoremindcommitteemembers

thattheyarepaid$1000amonthtositontheMSCcommittee.Iwouldhopethatmeetingoncea

month,

especially

when

there

are

outstanding

and

pressing

matters

to

attend

to,

is

not

too

much

to

expectbyourcaucusorbyAlbertataxpayers.

Furthermore,aswehavebeenremindedagainrecentlywithMr.DaveTaylorschangeofstatus,MLAs

whobecomeindependentsdonotneedtowaitforanewbudgetoraMSCmeetingtoreceivethe

supporttheyneedtofunctioninthelegislature.Whenmembersbecomeindependent,theyare

immediatelyallottedanamountof$96,000(prorated)ontopofthe$67,000giventoeachmemberfor

administrativesupport.This$96,000forMr.Taylorwasadditionalfundinggrantedpostpassageof

Budget2010(theLiberalsdidnotloseanycaucusresearch/communicationsfundingasaresultofMr.

Taylorsdeparture). Again,thisadditionalfundingwasgrantedseamlesslybetweenbudgetswithouta

specialmeetingoftheMSCorasupplementaryestimate. ShouldtheLAO,forsomereason,notbeable

tofindtherelativelymodestamountwearerequesting,aminorsupplementaryestimatewouldnot

seeminappropriate

for

the

sake

of

democratic

fairness.

Principles

Assomanymembersofthiscommitteehavemaintainedthroughthelastthreedecades,thekey

principleatplayherethatneedstobeupheldisthatahealthyoppositionisessentialtoastrongand

functioningdemocracy. Inourunicameralparliamentarysystemthisisespeciallytrue,sincetheonly

institutionaloversightofgovernmentisthatwhichisprovidedbyoppositionparties. Thisiswhyso

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manyprovinciallegislaturesandourfederalparliamentgivefundingtooppositioncaucuses,anddonot

raiseartificialbarriers(suchaswhetherthepartyleaderispresentlyanMLAornot)todisqualifysome

partiesandnotothers.

Inthepoliticallandscapetoday,thereisnoquestionthattherearefourpartiesinAlberta. Itseemsonly

properthateachofthemreceivefairandequitablefundinginourlegislature;tohavethethirdlargest

partyreceiveconsiderablylessthanthefourthlargestpartyissimplynotappropriate. Albertanswillrecognizethisanddenyingourclaimwillreflectpoorlyuponthiscommittee.

Giventhattherearenogroundsfordiscriminatingagainstacaucusbasedonwhethertheirpartyleader

happenstobeelectedatanygiventime,weareconfidentthatthiscommitteewillsupportamotionto

granttheWildroseAlliancecaucusfundingequaltothatwhichtheNDPcaucusreceivesatthispresent

time.

Thequestionweareespeciallyinterestedinseekingtheguidanceofthiscommitteeonisthatofthe

retroactivityofthefunding. Normally,fundingfollowsimmediatelyuponparliamentarychanges,as

whenamemberannouncesindependence. Thereisacasetobemadethatcaucusfundingshouldbe

grantedretroactively

to

either

the

date

the

caucus

grew

to

three;

the

date

our

first

letter

was

sent

to

theChair;theearliestdatethecommitteemeetingcouldhavebeenheld;orthedateofthelastmeeting

whenthematterwasnotgivenpriorityandtimeranout.Weproposethatthefundingshouldbe

retroactivetotheMSCmeetingofApril26,2010,asitisnotacceptablethatthecommitteeallowedthe

onlytimesensitivematterontheagendatobepushedtotheendoftheagenda.

Thankyouforyourconsiderationofthesematters.

Sincerely,

OriginalsignedbyMr.PaulHinman

MLA,CalgaryGlenmore

ActingLeaderfortheWildroseAllianceCaucusinallmatterspertainingtotheLegislativeAssemblyof

Alberta

c.c.PremierEdStelmach