HORGAN HELL-BENT ON STOPPING BIG DONATIONS
But NDP leader won’t say whether he supports taxpayer-funded help
When New Democratic Leader John Horgan reiterated his determination to ban corporate and union donations to political parties Thursday, arrayed on the table in front of him was evidence of how long he and his party have been fighting to clean up election finances in B.C.
There was the Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2005, the versions from 2008, 2010, 2015 and 2016, culminating in the Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2017 that Horgan himself intends to table when the house sits Feb. 14 for the pre-election session of the legislature.
None of those earlier versions of the bill were called for debate by the B.C. Liberals, nor does Horgan expect the government to proceed any differently this time.
He brought forward his plan this week to capitalize on the recent spate of publicity regarding Liberal fundraising and to set the stage for what he hopes will be a key issue in the coming election.
While the parade of six bills going back a dozen years does confirm NDP persistence, they also illustrated how the effort has so far been an exercise in futility in terms of electoral results.
The vow to clean up electoral finances was part of the NDP platforms in 2005, 2009, 2013, but it never managed to turn enough voters against the Liberals to cost the gov- erning party its hold on power.
Far from being shamed into reforming the system, the Liberals would appear to be making better use of it than ever. The party last week trumpeted having raised $12.5 million in 2016, twothirds of it from corporations and more than half of that from just 290 donors.
Taking that brazen disclosure as a starting point, Horgan further highlighted their financial dependence on a small number of wellheeled donors.
“Just 1.5 per cent of B.C. Liberal donors account for half of the more than $12 million raised by the B.C. Liberals last year,” Horgan told reporters, citing information compiled by NDP researchers from the Liberals’ own disclosure statements.
“These top 185 donors ponied up an average of $37,000 each to fill Christy Clark’s campaign coffers.”
The New Democrats also uncovered how fully 25 per cent of the Liberal swag — about $3 million in all — came from just 26 individual donors and their related companies.
“A tiny number of millionaires have our premier in their pocket, and it has to end,” declared Horgan, perhaps rehearsing a line for NDP attack ads.
Horgan’s legislative proposal, like the five drafts tabled previously, would restrict political contributions to individuals alone and ban them from corporations, unions, professional associations, law firms, non-profits, societies, charities and other organizations.
In terms of how political parties would raise funds after such a ban, the bill ducks the most likely alternative: direct funding from the public purse to supplement the current system where individual donations are tax deductible.
A financing reform like the one put in place recently in Ontario would ensure parties were funded annually at a rate of $2.25 for every vote cast in their favour in the last provincial election. Here in B.C. that formula would translate into $1.6 million a year for the NDP, $1.8 million for the Liberals and $300,000 for the Greens.
Rather than put the taxpayer-funded option in front of the electorate along with the ban, Horgan instead promises that if he forms the next government, he will launch a “comprehensive review of the financing of the political process” including only the possibility of “public financing.”
So determined is Horgan to avoid a public debate about making taxpayers pick up the tab for political parties, that when asked for his own position on public financing, he told reporters: “I have no opinion on that.”
The other awkward issue for Horgan is his continuing to solicit sizable donations from unions, corporations and other organizations even as he promises to outlaw the practice.
“I believe we lead by example,” he told reporters at one point, citing the six election finance bills on the table in front of him as evidence of his seriousness of purpose in ending the role of big money in B.C. politics. But he has no intention of taking the vow of chastity until after the votes are in.
Pouncing on the NDP leader’s equivocation was Green Leader Andrew Weaver, whose news release blasting big-ticket fundraising arrived the hour after Horgan wrapped up.
“Leaders lead. They walk the talk, even when it’s difficult,” he declared. “Sadly once again both the B.C. Liberals and the B.C. NDP have shown us this week that they aren’t willing to take action now, which is what British Columbians want.
“The B.C. Liberals are just laughing it off, while the B.C. NDP will only do something about it if they win the election.
“In the meantime, both of them will accept the same potentially corrupting money that is making B.C. the wild west of politics,” said Weaver, underscoring how his own party is already refusing to take donations from corporations and unions.
Easy for him to say when the Greens weren’t likely to attract much in the way of big money in the first place. Still, one gets a glimpse of Weaver working up his lines for the election debate.
On big money, he’ll portray the Liberals as trifling with corruption, the New Democrats as hypocrites, and the Greens as the only party with clean hands.
A tiny number of millionaires have our premier in their pocket, and it has to end. JOHN HORGAN, NDP leader