Calgary Party more than doubled other political parties in 2025 election spending

Newly released financial documents for last year's municipal election show The Calgary Party more than doubled its competitors in spending.

Most financial disclosures were made public this week, listing revenue, expenses and donor lists for mayoral and council candidates, political parties, and third-party advertisers.

Even though Communities First raised more than its competitors through donations and fundraising, The Calgary Party spent the most of any party, totaling $695,455.

Falling behind that mark, Communities First spent $267,527, and A Better Calgary spent just $52,880.

Last year marked the first municipal election to include political parties in decades, after provincial legislation re-introduced them to Alberta's two largest cities.

The Calgary Party received more than $173,000 in donations, but the bulk of its revenue was listed as "other revenue" on its financial disclosure, which includes fees paid by each candidate to cover costs like brochures and advertising.

Communities First brought in more than $230,000 total in fundraising and donations. A Better Calgary, meanwhile, raised more than $45,000.

Despite The Calgary Party’s spending, just one of its candidates was elected to council, with DJ Kelly winning in Ward 4. Their mayoral candidate Brian Thiessen finished fifth.

Communities First fared better, electing four candidates to council in Andre Chabot, Dan McLean, Kim Tyers and Rob Ward, with its mayoral candidate Sonya Sharp finishing second. Despite the large disparity in spending, A Better Calgary elected as many candidates to council as The Calgary Party, with Mike Jamieson winning the Ward 12 seat.

Even though The Calgary Party outspent its competitors, the party’s campaign strategist Stephen Carter said they still struggled to communicate with all Calgarians. 

"We struggled to get attention at virtually every turn, and that was solvable only through money,” said Carter.

"Something as simple as putting a brochure in everybody's mailbox became almost financially impossible for us to do. Coupled with the postal strike, we were really struggling to try and figure out how to get our information about who we were and what we stood for into the vast majority of Calgarians' hands."

Carter argued that there weren’t enough voters paying attention to last fall's election, and that parties' ability to respond with more advertising was constrained by campaign finance rules.

Individuals, corporations and unions are limited to contributing a maximum of $5,000 per year to local parties. Donors may contribute an additional $5,000 in aggregate to mayoral and council candidates, and a further $5,000 to school board candidates.