[Jacks]

I guess I have been a bit naive about how deep the rabbit hole goes. I was surprised that the PC executive holds enough power to tell the Premier when to jump and how high but this is even more baffling.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/04/01/alberta-pcs-using-undisclosed-trust-fund-legal-only-for-their-party-to-finance-its-deepening-debt/

Alberta’s long-ruling Progressive Conservative Party released another annual report showing it sliding ever further into the red this week, but the disclosure does not show the full picture, a National Post analysis has found.

The party is relying on a legal, albeit undisclosed, trust — a financial vehicle that has been forbidden to other Alberta parties since the ’70s — to finance its growing debt.

During the last election, the PCs took out a line of credit worth $1.6-million that was secured against the little-known Tapcal Trust, a holdover from an era of looser disclosure rules. In 2012, the party borrowed $646,000 against that total; an amount that grew to $1.1-million in 2013, as public disclosures released on Monday revealed.

Originally known as P.C. Bill 24 Trust, the party owned it when then-premier Peter Lougheed introduced widespread election reform and finance disclosure laws in 1977. The trust was grandfathered in, exempted from public disclosure laws.

Under current campaign finance laws, parties must reveal all of their assets.

“I don’t know if there’s $1 in there, $100 dollars or $1-million,” said Drew Westwater, a spokesperson for Elections Alberta. “I can’t comment on it beyond that. It’s something they have that other parties aren’t allowed to have, that’s fair to say.”

The party recorded relatively stable fundraising revenues in 2013 despite the political turmoil that eventually ousted former premier Alison Redford last month. Further, party spending has remained relatively stable over the past decade — election years excepted.

However, public disclosures continue to show the party falling ever deeper into debt and deficit. Although the party raised a respectable $2.2-million last year, its debt has almost doubled since last year. According to its public books, the party has a net negative asset position of $946,015 — an unprecedented figure for a party that has ruled the fundraising roost in one of the country’s wealthiest provinces for almost 43 years.

In order to finance the uncommonly competitive 2012 election, public disclosures show the party not only borrowed cash, it also liquidated $2-million in bonds stocks and securities and consumed about $1-million in cash that was on hand from 2011.

The existence of the Tapcal Trust seemed to come as a surprise to several people with long-standing ties with the party.

PC Party executive director Kelley Charlebois declined to answer any questions about the party’s financial position: He also declined to comment on how much the Tapcal Trust is worth.

“The PCAA does not discuss these sorts of financial matters,” he wrote.

Grandfathered in to avoid election reforms in 1977 and it' still around today??