Labour council backs Stewart’s bid for mayor
The labour council representing more than 100 Vancouver unions is standing behind a decision to distribute 100,000 flyers promoting mayoral candidate Kennedy Stewart before the campaign period begins Saturday.
A loophole in B.C.’s new Local Elections Campaign Financing Act has led to the proliferation of advertising and attack ads ahead of Saturday, the date when Elections B.C. begins regulating and limiting third-party advertising.
The Vancouver and District Labour Council endorsed Stewart’s bid for mayor in mid-July after interviewing independent candidates Stewart and Shauna Sylvester and then-Vision candidate Ian Campbell.
The vetting committee was impressed by Stewart’s record and dedication, as well as his policies on housing affordability, said president Stephen von Sychowski.
“Many of our folks work here (in Vancouver), but they can’t afford to live here,” he said. “Commuting is not very good for workers.”
The main focus of the flyers, which feature a photo of Stewart on one side and a list of other council, school board and park board candidates endorsed by VDLC on the other, is to ensure the “labour vote gets to the polls and is educated about who we are supporting,” said von Sychowski.
The flyer is clearly marked with the VDLC’s logo and contact information, in contrast to ads and billboards that recently appeared from a group calling itself Vancouverites for Affordable Housing. A phone number posted on that group’s ads has been disconnected and its Facebook page appears to have been taken down.
A grassroots group by the same name said it had nothing to do with the ads.
Von Sychowski said that while anonymous ads “may not be illegal, they definitely come off as a little shady.” In contrast, VDLC is “proud” of its endorsements.
The labour council has registered with Elections B.C. as a third-party advertiser “to cover all the bases,” but doesn’t expect to do much, if any, public adver- tising after Saturday’s deadline. “Our main focus will be member to member,” he said.
Third-party advertisers who want to get their message out to the public after the deadline cannot be affiliated with any candidate or campaign and must register with Elections B.C. Ads must include their name and contact information and spending is limited to $150,000, according to the Elections B.C. website. There are no such limits ahead of the campaign period.
Simon Fraser University political scientist Patrick Smith said the VDLC shouldn’t be blamed for using a “loophole” that has already been exploited by other groups hoping to get their message out before the deadline.
“They are not at fault for how the rules of the competition have been set up,” he said, calling the VDLC endorsement “pretty significant” for Stewart.
Smith said the provincial government should be commended for trying to regulate corporate and union donations.
“They fixed a lot of the problem, but there are other things that still need to be done,” he said.
SFU political scientist Sanjay Jeram said he hoped the regulations would create more “equality ” among parties with varying levels of financial backing, but freedom of expression rights may make it difficult to limit third-party advertising before the campaign.
“In a free-market economy, it is your right to buy space and put up your message, as long as you are abiding by obscenity laws,” he said.
The benefits can be huge for candidates who are the subject of third-party advertising.
Jeram pointed to studies that show the public is receptive to a simple message that is repeated often. “The earlier that you can begin to pound away at a simple message, the better it is for you,” he said.
In a statement, Stewart said he was honoured by the VDLC endorsement. “Their communication to voters has been open and transparent, unlike the anonymous billboards we’ve all seen around town,” he said.