Those of you familiar with my blog will recall how pleased I was when the provincial government introduced regulations governing the funding of municipal election campaigns in 2018. These new restrictions prohibited donations from unions and corporations — including developers. They also limited donations from individuals to a maximum of $1,200.
However, even during the 2018 election campaign it was apparent that a number of loopholes remained, and now even more have become evident. It’s time for the province to address these problems.
The loophole that causes me the most concern is the distinction between campaign financing, on the one hand, and party operating expenses, on the other.
Right now, if a donation is made for the express purpose of financing a campaign, current regulations mean that it cannot come from a union or corporation. However, if the donation is for so-called “operating expenses”, then no such restriction applies and we’re right back where we started before the new provincial regulations — with deep-pocketed developers supporting their parties and candidates of choice.
Of lesser but still significant concern are the reporting requirements. The way things stand now, municipal parties and candidates must report donations only once per election cycle. This report doesn’t have to be filed with Elections BC until three months after the election date, so a donation could be made today and it wouldn’t have to be publicly disclosed until well after the votes are counted. In the meantime, it could be influencing all kinds of things.
I was very pleased to see Green Party of Vancouver Councillor Adriane Carr critique current regulatory shortcomings in a recent article by Frances Bula in The Globe and Mail. Ms. Carr indicated that the Greens will publish all donations on an annual basis, including non-election years, starting with their annual report for 2019. Further, on Jan. 21st fellow Green Councillor Pete Fry introduced a motion to close the loopholes in municipal politics and reconvene the Independent Election Task Force. (He has also created a petition to get ‘dark money’ out of politics — you can view and sign it here.)
Now the province needs to level the playing field and make annual disclosures of donations a requirement for all parties and candidates.
Still, the burning issue that needs to be regulated remains — preventing campaign donations from being hidden under the guise of “operating expenses”. Only when all campaign donations are completely transparent can citizens feel better assured about untoward influence in municipal elections.
Daily atmospheric CO2 [Courtesy of CO2.Earth]
Latest daily total (Jan. 19, 2020): 413.37 ppm
One year ago (Jan. 19, 2019): 412.14 ppm
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