Civic elections face donations ban
NDP follows up B.C. legislation with similar bill at the local level
B.C.’s municipal elections next fall could look dramatically different under new legislation introduced Monday by the provincial government.
B.C. Municipal Affairs Minister Selina Robinson introduced a bill that would ban corporate and union donations from local campaigns, beginning with the Oct. 20, 2018 municipal elections. As well, the government set a $1,200 annual cap on individual donations, which extends to all candidates under a civic political party, and instituted new restrictions on loans, election advertising and expense limits for the local election of councillors, mayors, electoral area directors and school trustees.
“It’s been a wild west in political fundraising here and people want change,” Robinson said. “Deep pockets shouldn’t decide elections, people should.”
The changes could reshape the scope of local election campaigns by clamping down on the biggest donors. For example, the $100,000 donation to Vision Vancouver by the Canadian Union of Public Employees during the 2014 local election would not be allowed. Similarly, $400,000 to the NPA by then-president Peter Armstrong, through two companies, would also be forbidden.
The financial filings of both main parties are littered with donations from corporations, unions, development companies, business people, construction firms and interest groups that donated during the last election and would be barred from doing so in 2018.
Research by The Vancouver Sun on the 2008 civic elections showed 50 businesses and individuals (mainly developers, corporations and unions) accounted for one-third of all money raised in Metro Vancouver local election campaigns.
The new law, if passed, would be retroactive to Oct. 31, allowing for one last day in which unlimited donations could be made to municipal candidates and parties, although Robinson said she didn’t expect a massive rush to squeeze in under the deadline.
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said in a statement he was “pleased” with the changes.
“Banning donations from corporations and unions — and strictly limiting contributions from individuals — in municipal politics is the right thing to do, and long overdue,” he said.
“We have been calling for these changes for many years. I wholeheartedly support the spirit of the new steps taken and I’m looking forward to reviewing the legislation in detail in the coming days.”
Vancouver NPA Coun. George Affleck said he was pleased the government was making this move, but also questioned its timing.
“We’ve been calling for campaign finance reform for a long time,” he said. “It’s about time.
“Still, you can’t help but see this is two weeks after the byelection (which the NPA won) where Vision spent very little money.”
He said the NPA hasn’t raised much money since the last civic election in 2014 and the timing of this move “caps us at the knees.”
He suggested Vision has already spent heavily on expensive campaign research and software, so the ban won’t affect them as much.
“They have everything they need,” he said.
He also questioned whether the legislation would crack down on the “highly political public service staff” in the mayor’s office who help promote Vision Vancouver.
Where the parties get their money from will tell many tales, he said, and he also wondered how time donated to campaigns that have connections to unions would be tracked.
“That’s a significant opportunity the private sector can’t provide. I think, if you’re the party who is in power, it’s really important to provide that sort of transparency,” he said.
“There’s a transparency needed to decision-making.”
Vision spent roughly $3.4 million in the 2014 election, while the NPA spent $2.4 million.
New per capita spending caps will also be in place in 2018, although the government on Monday could not immediately say what the cap would be for Vancouver, because it requires complex calculations.
The new rules would require the civic organizations to attribute specific expenses to each candidate in disclosure forms. And individual donors could donate only $1,200 in total to any of the candidates endorsed by a civic group (although that same donor could donate the maximum to multiple individual independent candidates).
Local politicians asked the government to consider election finance reform, including banning corporate and union donations, in September at the most recent Union of B.C. Municipalities meeting. The B.C. government last month introduced legislation to ban corporate and union donations in future provincial elections.
UBCM president Wendy Booth praised the legislation.
“It’s a credit to the government that they’re acting early in their mandate to respond to the issues we’ve identified,” she said. “Elections shouldn’t be won or lost based on who has the most money.”
Oak Bay Mayor Nils Jensen, whose council first pressed the issue several years ago, also endorsed the legislation.
“The bill will put to an end to the public perception that money can influence an election,” he said. “This is a victory for democracy. This is a victory for the rule of democracy.”