Electoral reform campaign rules released mere days prior to start
One group on each side to be funded, with limits on raising extra money
The campaign for B.C.’s referendum on proportional representation starts Saturday, but it could be a few more weeks before the official organizations are selected.
Attorney General David Eby has set rules for who can apply for public funding to run educational campaigns for and against electoral reform before the mail-in ballot on Nov. 30.
But Eby took so long to craft the regulations that he left Elections B.C. scrambling to set a deadline of July 6 for organizations to apply. “We expect to make a decision in mid-July,” said Elections B.C. spokesperson Andrew Watson.
It’s a problem to have the first two weeks of the campaign pass without official opponent and proponent groups, said Bill Tieleman of the No B.C. Proportional Representation Society, which is applying to be the official opponent group.
“We’ve got a referendum where (the government) can’t even get the proponent groups figured out before the start of the campaign and then they are saying trust us for all the details,” said Tieleman.
Maria Dobrinskaya, whose Vote PR B.C. group is applying for official supporter status, said she’s less concerned about the timing, and welcomed clear spending limits and other rules. “It’s maybe not the smoothest rollout it could have been, but I also don’t see our efforts in talking to people being constrained by that,” she said. “It’s a really long campaign period.”
Here are 5 things to know about the new rules:
1. The government is giving two official campaigns — one campaigning to keep first-past-the-post elections, the other advocating proportional representation — $500,000 each to put their arguments to the public. The money can only be used for advertising and to hold or sponsor events that are free to attend, according to the new regulations. It can’t be spent on donations to political parties or to help fund other advertising campaigns by registered third-party groups (which have their own $200,000 limits). The campaign also can’t feature the faces, names or logos of political parties, MLAs or candidates from the Oct. 20 municipal elections. Misused money has to be repaid.
2. Only registered societies can apply. The society ’s directors must be at least two-thirds ordinary B.C. residents and cannot include any MLAs, candidates for public office or any person convicted of an Elections Act offence in the past seven years. The directors also can’t be paid.
3. Elections B.C. will decide which two groups get funded. The nonpartisan agency will review the qualifications of the directors of the societies, their experience in conducting public information campaigns and their knowledge of the current voting system and the three proportional representation systems proposed.
4. The official groups can fundraise on top of their $500,000 in public funds. But corporate and union donations are banned. There’s a maximum donation limit of $1,200 a person. The most the groups can fundraise is an additional $200,000, giving them a maximum of $700,000 to spend.
5. The rest of the referendum details remain largely unchanged. The mail-in period will be Oct. 22 to Nov. 30. A 50 per cent plus one threshold will be required to change the system. There will be two questions on the ballot — the first will ask voters if they want to change the electoral system. The second will let people rank three proportional representation options in order of preference.