Municipalities seek fundraising changes ahead of 2018 election

The Union of B.C. Municipalities will ask the province to ban big money from local elections.

The decision came a day after a resolution seeking to ban corporate and union donations was referred to the UBCM executive council, effectively shelving it until next year’s convention.

But in a razor-thin vote on Thursday, delegates said they wanted it back on the table.

In what Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps called a “dramatic reversal,” 51 per cent of delegates voted to reconsider the motion, while 49 per cent voted against.

Oak Bay Coun. Kevin Murdoch, who introduced the original resolution, tweaked it to address concerns expressed Wednesday.

Some delegates didn’t want to see a controversial taxpayer subsidy, which has been proposed at the provincial level, repeated locally.

Others said any donation restrictions should consider that large cities might require different reforms than rural areas.

The amended resolution passed unanimously.

“I think the motion is better now — it’s clearer — but I don’t think it changes the actual functional meat of it,” Murdoch said.

“At the end of the day, this just really allows us to say to the province: ‘This is urgent, this is important, we need to get this on the table now, so it can be in place for October 2018.’ There’s no guarantees that will happen, but at least we’ve done our part to help get it there.”

B.C. Municipal Affairs Minister Selina Robinson said in a statement that the government is looking at options to change campaign fundraising in local politics.

“While the UBCM resolution did not speak to timing, I recognize the tight timelines for the 2018 general local elections and

we are pursuing this issue as quickly as we can,” the statement said.