Voters want fair elections
The NDP government’s new legislation on municipal election financing is good, but it only scratches the surface. Corporate and union donations have been banned at the local level and no individual may donate more than $1,200. The goal, Premier John Horgan said, is to take the big money out of local elections.
The new financing rules will be more significant in centres such as Vancouver, and perhaps Kelowna, but will have very little impact on the likes of Keremeos or Coldstream.
Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran correctly speculates business owners will simply write personal cheques to the candidate of their choice instead of going through their company.
The changes have been embraced by the public.
Central Okanagan Similkameen Nicola MP Dan Albas, in an interview with the Okanagan Newspaper Group, said the changes are good although he admits spending caps favour incumbents. Newbies need to work harder to gain name recognition and signage and print advertising (both which cost money) are a good avenue.
“Changing the rules to exclude union and corporate donations is a good thing,” said Albas, a former Penticton city councillor. “It levels the playing field. Overall, it still goes down to the strength, character, reputation and the ability to communicate as a candidate and the ideas you have.”
Banning union donations is good, but it doesn’t stop city employees from hosting their own information sessions for cardcarrying members. This was done in 2014 in at least one municipality on Vancouver Island. Firefighters and paramedics, for example, have been known to become politically active within their own membership.
The primary issue the NDP won’t dare touch (nor did their predecessors) is getting elections out of the hands of civil service staff. If anything, it could be perceived as a conflict. An election will determine who their boss is.
Defenders of staff-administered elections note that everyone must take an oath prior to an election. Big deal. Married people take oaths and the divorce rate is more than 50 per cent in North America.
An independent committee or the provincial government should be in charge, if anything, to eliminate bad perceptions. Another possibility is to have staff trade off in Vernon and West Kelowna, and in Oliver and Osoyoos.
Nearly every Canadian province uses the system of staff-run elections, likely because it’s convenient. B.C. could be a leader in Canada by changing the format.
The vote counting machines also need to go. Most major centres in Ontario still use the manual count.
The only advantage to a machine is the winner is announced quicker on election night. With a vote-counting machine, if there’s a recount required, there’s nothing to recount. The ballots need to be numbered. The Municipal Election Act is quite thorough but it seems enforcement of the rules are non-existent.
Based on what we’ve seen in so many other nations, maintaining the integrity of elections at all levels needs to be protected. B.C.’s provincial government has added a significant safeguard but didn’t go far enough.