The BC Liberals spent more than $360,000 to get their four Tri-City candidates into the Legislature last May but just one made it through.
New papers released last week by Elections BC show the provincial party transferred cash into campaigns for Joan Isaacs (Coquitlam-Burke Mountain); Steve Kim (Coquitlam-Maillardville); Susan Chambers (Port Coquitlam); and then-MLA Linda Reimer (Port Moody-Coquitlam).
But Isaacs was the only successful regional contender for the party, narrowly beating BC NDP incumbent Jodie Wickens by 170 votes.
According to the financial documents, which had to be filed by the April 3 deadline, the BC Liberals transferred:
• $89,110 to Isaacs;
• $120,502 to Kim;
• $29,543 to Chambers;
• and $122,246 to Reimer.
In total, the BC Liberals spent $8.1 million to see their candidates across the province win seats.
By comparison, the BC NDP constituency associations in the Tri-Cities doled out:
• $21,982 to Wickens;
• $59,200 to Coquitlam-Maillardville MLA Selina Robinson, who is now the minister of municipal affairs and housing;
• $36,000 to PoCo veteran MLA Mike Farnworth, who was appointed minister of public safety and solicitor general;
• and $20,637 to Rick Glumac, a former Port Moody city councillor who is the parliamentary secretary for technology.
Still, the BC Greens, which formed government with the BC NDP after Liberal Premier Christy Clark lost control, spent even less on their Tri-City candidates — each of whom gained more than 10% of the vote:
• $5,351 for Ian Soutar (Coquitlam-Burke Mountain);
• $1,202 for Nicola Spurling (Coquitlam-Maillardville);
• $1,220 for Jason Hanley (Port Coquitlam);
• and nothing for Don Barthel (Port Moody-Coquitlam).
The figures are party transfers and don’t reflect the total cost of the candidates’ campaigns.
Meanwhile, the Elections BC disclosures also show the BC Liberals held fundraisers last year in the Tri-Cities: a social last February in Coquitlam-Maillardville netted the party $6,445 while another event last April bought in $18,491. In Coquitlam-Burke Mountain last October, a $125-per-ticket function yielded $18,661 for the party.
The reports are the first financial statements filed since changes to the Election Act last fall, which included banning political donations from groups, corporations and unions, and capping individual contributions to $1,200 a year — of which the latter measure came into effect on Jan. 1, 2018.
Your Political Party of BC — led by former Anmore resident James Filippelli — failed to file its financial documents by the April 3 deadline. It now has until June 29 to file, with a $100 late fee.
jcleugh@tricitynews.com
