A year after the People's Alliance polled two per cent of the vote in the 2014 New Brunswick election, money became so scarce Sterling Wright personally lent the party $4,000 to keep the bills paid and the lights on.

"It was very tight at times," said Wright, who is the party's executive director. "There was no money to throw around."

Those lean times are about to come to an abrupt end as the People's Alliance stunning election of three MLAs in last week's provincial election unlocks up to $700,000 in publicly funded salaries, expense accounts, administrative supports and political funding for it to pursue its work full-time for the first time.

"It's going to make a tremendous difference," Wright said.

"When you start with nothing and then you have something … something's pretty good."

All successful parties in last week's provincial election are in line for financial rewards of different kinds, and although the largest of those rewards will go to whichever of the two main parties eventually forms government, the People's Alliance may undergo the largest changes.

In addition to $85,000 salaries and expense accounts waiting for the three People's Alliance MLAs, each will also have $40,000 budgets supplied by the legislature to open and staff offices in their ridings to serve constituents.

At the legislature, if the People's Alliance is granted official status, which is likely, party leader Kris Austin will qualify for an additional $20,000 salary bump paid to leaders of third parties in the assembly, with a minimum of $150,000 more supplied to staff a legislature office.

We always felt that more money would be nice,  and if we had it we could use it effectively.- Sterling Wright, executive director

The party itself will also be eligible for nearly $80,000 in annual public funding as its share of a $658,000 pool supplied by the legislature to all parties, based on their vote total in the most recent election.

That's a sixfold increase over the $13,000 the People's Alliance has been receiving since the 2014 election.

For a party that just three years ago raised less than $6,000 from 56 donors, the resources suddenly available to it are enormous.

"We always felt that more money would be nice and if we had it we could use it effectively," said Wright, who has only known shoestring budgets and volunteer labour during the party's eight-year history.

"We just made do with what we had. We were used to it."

Greens will see similar funds

The election of three Green Party's MLAs will unleash nearly identical resources for their party, but the Greens have enjoyed some of those benefits already after electing leader David Coon as a single MLA in 2014.

For the People's Alliance, it is all new bounty.

"It can make a big difference," said UNB political scientist J.P. Lewis.

According to Lewis, the Greens proved in 2014 the money and profile that come with having an MLA in the legislature can elevate a party's standing dramatically.

The greater resources available to both Greens and the People's Alliance based on this year's election could generate an even larger impact for each, he said.

"It gives opposition parties the ability to act as a player on the same stage as government," Lewis said.
"They achieved significant things — they got seats. It gives you a lot of legitimacy."