Allowances will fill parties’ cash gap
Compensation across five years will help smoothe transition into new donation rules
VICTORIA — Political parties in British Columbia will receive an annual allowance over the next five years in an effort to help wean them off unlimited corporate, union and individual donations.
Attorney General David Eby introduced amended Election Act legislation Monday. It says starting in 2018, political parties will receive $2.50 for every vote they got in the last election and funding will drop by 25 cents each year until 2021.
That means the Liberal, New Democrat and Green parties will receive a total of roughly $27.5 million over four years.
Eby said the legislation also limits individual donations to $1,200 a year, bans out-of-province donations and caps contributions to third-party advertisers.
Elections B.C., the agency that monitors provincial elections, reported the Liberals raised $13.1 million in 2016, while the NDP took in $6.2 million and the Greens raised $757,268.
Premier John Horgan said the legislation will take big money out of B.C. politics.
“The Wild West financing of the past will come to an end,” he said. “It’s time elections were decided by voters, not by those with the most money in the kitty.”
Eby said the government considered implementing a permanent vote subsidy similar to Quebec, but decided on the five-year allowance.
“Our proposal was to ban big money from politics in B.C.,” he said. “We believe this bill achieves the goal.”
Eby acknowledged the NDP did not fully address its position on the party’s support for a vote subsidy before or during the election campaign.
Green Leader Andrew Weaver called the legislation historic and groundbreaking.
Green party caucus spokesman Adam Olsen said the influence of special interests through the lax campaign finance laws led to cynicism from those who felt their voices hadn’t been heard.
“British Columbians should be able to trust their government to put them, not special interests, first,” he said in a news release. “This legislation is a big step towards restoring that trust.”
Per-vote funding isn’t a new idea. The federal Liberal government introduced a per-vote subsidy in 2004 after introducing bans on political donations from unions and corporations.
The Conservatives vowed in 2008 to do away with the $1.95 per-vote subsidy, with then-prime minister Stephen Harper saying political parties should have to rely on support from individual citizens, not all taxpayers. The allowance was phased out and ended in 2015.
“It’s time elections were decided by voters, not by those with the most money in the kitty.” — Premier John Horgan