Regardless of the rhetoric that may fly in the coming weeks, the fight among three candidates to become Vancouver- Mount Pleasant’s new MLA will be a fair one — at least when it comes to finances.
Pete Fry of the Green Party, the NDP’s Melanie Mark and Gavin Dew of the Liberals can each spend a maximum of $75,941 between Jan. 5 and Feb. 2, the date of the byelection.
The candidates’ parties can also spend the same amount — $75,941 — for a total of $155,883 for each campaign, according to rules set by Elections B.C. that include a calculation involving the Consumer Price Index.
The rules limit a federal political party, electoral district association or charitable organization from making a donation. But the rules do not prevent one person or company from simply writing a cheque for $155,883, said Nola Western, deputy chief electoral officer for funding and disclosure at Elections B.C.
“Anybody, anywhere in the world can make a political contribution of any amount,” said Western, noting the candidates and their respective parties have to disclose their finances by May 2.
For now, none of the candidates are saying exactly who will donate to their campaigns. Historically, big business has been the main contributor to the Liberals and unions have funded the NDP.
The Greens don’t have a rich history of running candidates at the provincial level. But if donations collected by the Green Party of Vancouver in the 2014 civic election is an indication of where Fry and his party will get its money from, expect many small donations from individuals and some larger amounts from organizations.
Some of the Greens’ biggest contributors to its $88,000 civic campaign were the Vancouver Firefighters’ Union ($10,000) and the Vancouver Taxi Association ($5,000).
Fry, who ran unsuccessfully for council as a Green candidate in the 2014 civic election, said he didn’t expect to spend the full $155,883 in the byelection campaign.
“Frankly, I’m running on a far more grassroots level,” he told the Courier. “I’m not getting donations from organized labour or the resource extraction industry. I’m picking up smaller donations. We’re certainly running a well-financed campaign but we won’t be maxing out.”
Added Fry, “To be honest, the finance thing is not really an issue that we’re too focused on. It’s more about getting boots on the ground. More money would be nice but it’s not detracting from our campaign, at all.”
The NDP’s Mark said it was too early to determine whether she and her party will spend the full $155,883, noting the campaign is relying on widespread volunteer support to get the vote out.
At her campaign launch, guests included representatives from labour and community organizations, as well as family and friends.
“There’s a wide variety of people who have expressed an interest to support [the campaign],” said Mark, who worked recently as the associate deputy to Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, B.C.’s representative for children and youth. “Campaigns cost money. I didn’t grow up in money. It’s going to take a lot of work to get the word out there and get people to come by with the cheques, which they have been doing.”
Liberal candidate Dew, who runs a communications and public policy consulting firm, is no stranger to how campaigns are funded and where the money comes from. A former board of director of the civic NPA, Dew also ran Liberal Ralph Sultan’s successful campaign in West Vancouver-Capilano in the last provincial election.
“To be honest, my job is to knock on doors and talk to voters — and the big challenge for me as a former campaign manager is to not try to run my own campaign,” Dew said. “But my understanding is our intent is to run the biggest and the best campaign that we can. Hopefully, we’re going to raise and spend as much as we can, within the cap. It’s going to be a serious campaign.”
The NDP has held the riding for 82 years. The riding’s seat became vacant when NDP MLA Jenny Kwan resigned in July 2015. In October, Kwan was elected as the NDP MP for Vancouver-East.
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