Lots of talk and debate this election campaign about civic parties collecting cash from unions, developers and others with deep pockets.
Maybe you read my Oct. 21 feature that explained why some of the city’s big hitters such as realtor Bob Rennie and developer Rob Macdonald give money to civic parties. By the end of this week, we may find out how much they gave to Vision Vancouver and the NPA, respectively.
You’ve probably heard the NPA and Vision agreed to release a list of contributors to their campaigns. The NPA also said it will provide the dollar amounts. Vision, which promised to release its donor list over the weekend but failed, hasn’t clarified whether it will include who gave what.
While we wait, the Green Party of Vancouver was the first party to release its list, collecting a total of $46,387, including a $5,000 donation from the Vancouver Firefighters’ Union. OneCity pulled in $47,286, including more than $30,000 from unions. COPE said it will disclose its donations by the end of the week.
The fact the parties are doing this is significant because they usually wait 90 days after the election – which is the law – to disclose such information. So that’s some good news.
But I’ve written about this topic for more than a decade and the story never seems to change: No, says the politician, I’m not influenced by all that cash. And, yes, says the politician, I want caps on contributions and spending limits but those higher paid politicians in Victoria aren’t doing anything to change the laws to make that happen!
Well, they’re right about Victoria offering excuse after excuse of why Vancouver parties are allowed to raise as much as they want and spend as much as they want; city hall watchers may recall Macdonald’s $960,000 donation to the NPA in the 2011 campaign, which is believed to be the biggest contribution to a civic party in Canadian history.
Anyway, Vancouver has been on the record for years of wanting campaign finance reform. Heck, the NPA, COPE and Vision even got together several years ago to demand a cap on union and corporate donations and other measures to get the big money out of civic politics.
Victoria is well aware of this.
Or, at least, I think so.
But just in case Premier Christy Clark and her crew haven’t quite understood Vancouver’s demands, there are two meetings this Friday and Saturday where people can weigh in on the topic.
Huh?
An all-party committee of the Legislature, which includes former mayor Sam Sullivan who is now the Liberal MLA for Vancouver-False Creek, wants to hear from “stakeholders” and the public regarding expense limits. The meetings are scheduled for the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue at 580 West Hastings.
Two thoughts on this: One, isn’t the committee aware of the poor timing of trying to get people out to talk about campaign finance reform when there is an election in a couple weeks and people have a difficult time as it is to cast a ballot?; two, isn’t the committee aware of the poor timing of trying to get people out to talk about campaign finance reform when there is an election in a couple weeks and people have a difficult time as it is to cast a ballot?
Yes, I wrote the same sentence twice.
It is to make a point.
And that point is: Why now?
Didn’t the Local Government Elections Task Force release recommendations on expense limits four years ago? And haven’t three-year terms been replaced with four-year terms, so any new rules won’t go into effect until the 2018 election?
Yes, and yes.
I was going to end this piece with a stinging rebuke; not really, just wanted to write stinging rebuke. Instead, I’ll turn it over to Dermod Travis, the executive director of Integrity B.C., a non-profit organization “dedicated to help restore a bond built on trust and confidence between citizens and their elected officials.”
Take it away Mr. Travis: “While the committee has offered some key stakeholders a conference call option ‘upon request’ and a possible ‘final meeting’ four days after local elections on Nov. 15, their disregard for providing adequate notice to all stakeholders and their decision to conduct virtually the entire process while local elections are underway makes a mockery of the importance of the committee’s work.”
Love that word, mockery.
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