FASTER DONATION DISCLOSURE

Liberals planning new legislation

The provincial government plans to introduce legislation next month that would force major political parties to release a list of donations to their party every two weeks through Elections B.C.

Finance Minister Mike de Jong said the goal is to make mandatory the B.C. Liberal Party’s voluntary biweekly disclosure of political donations, which began earlier this month.

“It would apply a similar standard for immediate disclosure and require that of, certainly, the major parties,” de Jong said in an interview Monday.

The proposal would have slightly different rules for smaller parties, de Jong said.

The gathering and disclosure of the donor data would be handled by Elections B.C., he said.

The move sets the stage for duelling legislation over political financing during the spring legislative session, just three months before the provincial election in May.

NDP Leader John Horgan has said he intends to introduce a private member’s bill to ban corporate and union donations. The NDP has tried five times before to muster enough support in the house for the reform, but were blocked by the Liberal majority.

The Opposition seem to be hoping to ride a wave of public criticism over aggressive fundraising tactics by the premier, in which access to herself and top ministers is given in exchange for contributions from wealthy donors and businesses.

Premier Christy Clark has been on the defensive over the lack of rules and limits on political donations in recent months, and last week abruptly announced she’d cancel a $50,000 annual leader’s stipend from the Liberal party because it has become a public “distraction.”

The Liberals have refused to consider major reforms, instead arguing the public would be just as happy to see real-time donor information, including the names and amounts contributed to the party.

Clark continued to argue Monday that the choice before voters is whether to allow private citizens to donate to the political parties of their choice or to ban donations and force the government to use public money to fund political parties.

Typically, government legislation introduced just before an election does not pass into law. And Opposition private member’s bills almost always die.

Instead, both parties seem intent to use their donation reform bills to effectively goad one another in the legislature.

If passed, the Liberal bill would mean a significant increase in workload at Elections B.C., the non-partisan government agency that administers elections and tracks campaign financing.

Chief electoral officer Keith Archer wrote a report last year on the implications of releasing political donor data every two weeks instead of the current annual reporting. Archer estimated it would require a $250,000 increase in capital funding, annual increased operating costs of $150,000 and a special one-time cost of $25,000.

As well, it would take Elections B.C. 15 to 21 months after the law was passed before it could begin producing the donor reports, Archer wrote.