B.C. Liberals, NDP spar over cash-for-access funds

The B.C. Liberal party is attempting a political counter punch at the NDP on the issue of cash-for-access events after learning NDP leader John Horgan is expected to attend a $1,000-per-ticket reception scheduled for April 18.

On Wednesday, the Liberals released a leaked email from an NDP fundraiser inviting people to a reception at Hawksworth Restaurant in the Rosewood Hotel Georgia hosted by Gary Jackson, president of cannabis-packaging company CannaPack Solutions, with early-bird tickets selling for $500 if attendees buy before April 10. In the email, the event is billed as “an unparalleled opportunity to discuss the issues relating to what the future holds for the production, sale and distribution of marijuana in British Columbia.”

The event demonstrates “a level of hypocrisy,” said B.C. Liberal spokesman Emile Scheffel, considering that Horgan said his March 23 leader’s reception in Vancouver, where attendees paid anywhere from $350 for a ticket and up to $10,000 for a reserved-seating table, would be the last of its kind.

“Now we see he’s holding at least one more event, and I’m sure there will be more, where he’s taking money from whoever will pay it to reveal his plans for the marijuana industry behind closed doors,” Scheffel said.

The NDP however, argued that it is simply holding a fundraiser under existing rules and will continue to do so “to ensure we run a full and vigorous campaign,” without conceding an advantage to the B.C. Liberals.

“I think (the Liberals) are trying to distract from a situation they have caused and refused to take responsibility for,” said NDP deputy director Glen Sanford, “and that is a situation where we have the Wild West of political cash in B.C.”

Sanford said Horgan has also been clear that if elected an NDP government would change fundraising rules to ban union and corporate donations as well as limit big-money donations to political parties.

Up until now, the Liberals have been on the hot seat over fundraising issues, with an RCMP investigation into third-party donations to parties, a special prosecutor being appointed in the case, and characterizations of B.C. being the “Wild West” of Canadian political cash as stated in the New York Times.

On March 24, the Liberals returned $93,000 in donations after identifying 43 indirect contributions that were illegal under the B.C. Elections Act, and identified 30 cases where clerical errors resulted in contributions being reported inaccurately as individual donations when they came from their employers.

Scheffel said fundraising has always been part of politics, and the B.C. Liberals are open to a “healthy public debate” over how it should be done. He pointed out the government has called for an independent review of the rules for donations.

“We believe the No. 1 priority should be transparency,” Scheffel said, which is why the party started publicly reporting its donations on an ongoing basis.