Details about illegal donations will be made public, province says

EDMONTON — The Tory government made a remarkable political retreat Thursday, claiming it had always intended to make public details about illegal political contributions and will amend the law to make sure that happens in future. For days, government MLAs repeatedly said the information was secret because Alberta’s elections boss asked for secrecy provisions in the law. Then they reversed their position, saying there is no reason why Chief Electoral Officer Brian Fjeldheim can’t release details about the corporations he has charged with making illegal donations to political parties. On Thursday, deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk said the government had always expected the information would be made public. “It was always the intention to allow the chief electoral officer to release the results of any of his investigations,” Lukaszuk said. “There are legal opinions that say the wording of the law perhaps may prohibit him from doing so, so we have made a commitment that we will make any changes required to the law to allow him to do what we always wanted him to do: release that information to Albertans.” Justice Minister Jonathan Denis said the government plans to introduce the amendments in the fall. Fjeldheim said Thursday he has been told by outside legal that he cannot release the information under the law as it now stands. He said he plans to work through the summer and make recommendations to the government. Fjeldheim is also expected to release his report on the 2012 election in the coming months, but does not expect to make any recommendations. The report on the 2008 election written by Fjeldheim’s predecessor, Lorne Gibson, is at the centre of the debate over transparency. In his report, Gibson asked the government to add a regulation that investigations of corporations suspected of making illegal donations “shall be conducted in private.” The government first said that meant Gibson wanted both the investigation and the outcome kept secret, but Gibson came forward Wednesday and said that was not the case.