Alberta Liberals Critical of Tories for Taking Donations From Tobacco Firm

Source from:  By Jim Macdonald, THE CANADIAN PRESS 05/07/2008

Alberta's Liberal Opposition is criticizing the governing Progressive Conservatives for taking political donations from a tobacco firm. The Liberals point to public documents that show the Alberta PC Party received three donations last year worth a total of $5,125 from the National Smokeless Tobacco Co. But PC Party spokesman Jim Campbell says he sees nothing wrong with taking such donations, which in this case were tickets to leaders dinners in Calgary and Edmonton. "They're a legal company selling a legal product and if they want to support the political process that is there right," Campbell said Tuesday in an interview. "I don't see that there has been any negative influence on government tobacco policy." But Liberal health critic Dave Taylor says it simply doesn't look right that the Tories took these donations. "When a political party takes money from a tobacco company and then sets about trying to regulate tobacco use, it sends a mixed message at best," said Taylor. Taylor says it's time for all political parties to reject contributions from tobacco firms. "I suspect if you go back far enough you'll find a time when (the Liberals) took money from big tobacco, because just about everybody did," he said. "To the best of my knowledge we haven't taken any recently." But Health Minister Ron Liepert is dismissing the Liberal concerns and describes the issue as a "red herring." Liepert says the donation is within the guidelines of the Elections Act, so the party has not broken any rules. "I think it's a decision that the parties make and I would leave it at that," Liepert told reporters after the opposition raised the issue in the legislature. Enditem