With Premier John Horgan unveiling a bill this week banning corporate and union campaign contributions in provincial elections, municipal officials are beginning to debate potential rule changes for city elections.
Coquitlam Coun. Terry O’Neill said he expects the issue to be a significant topic of conversation at next week’s Union of BC Municipalities convention in Vancouver, even if a resolution is not put forward for a vote.
“I would imagine that if not formally, it will come up informally,” he said. “People will be talking about it. I will be talking about it.”
On banning union and corporate contributions in municipal elections, O’Neill has urged caution, saying what might work at higher levels of government could be problematic at the civic level. For example, without corporate donations, union-supported candidates would have an advantage because they have non-monetary benefits, like access to membership lists, that can be vital to get-out-the-vote efforts, he said.
He said newcomers to the political process could be hurt by the changes because they would not be able to raise the money needed to mount a viable campaign from individual donors. That could mean more parties and slates banning together at the civic level, O’Neill added.
“We have to have a level playing field,” he said.
O’Neill said he believes most donors give to candidates because they support the process, not because they expect favours or for council members to vote a certain way on their proposals.
Coquitlam Coun. Bonita Zarrillo disagrees with O’Neill’s assertions that contributors’ motives are completely altruistic. “If you get something of significance, you will give back,” she said. “I am concerned about that.”
Zarrillo put forward a notice of motion at council last year calling on the provincial government to ban corporate and union donations to civic politicians but it was defeated at the council table
When Zarrillo first won a seat on council in a byelection in 2013, she said she used online crowdfunding to raise $4,000 of her eventual total of $26,000. In that campaign, she also relied on unions, which gave her $16,750, and corporations, which gave her $3,650. Individuals donated $3,600 to her successful byelection campaign.
She said removing corporate and union donations from the political process would make raising money harder but it would engage more members of the community.
“It entices more people to get involved,” she said. “I think that is a very good idea.”
Not all Tri-City municipal politicians agree.
Port Moody Mayor Mike Clay said there are big differences between donations at the civic level compared to the provincial and federal levels, mainly that local contributions are not tax deductible.
“That is one huge difference,” he said in an email. “Also, there is far higher interest and engagement in the provincial elections, so they are able to attract more donations.”
He added that by receiving one $500 to $1,000 corporate or union contribution, a candidate can spend more time engaging with voters, which would be difficult if they were soliciting 20 to 40 $20 contributions.
Capping donations could also be problematic, Clay said. For example, if a company previously donated $5,000 to a candidate, it may now choose to have each one of its owner’s family members donate $1,000 as individuals, he said.
A ban would also be an advantage for candidates with sufficient personal wealth that they would not be bogged down with raising money, Clay said.
Regardless of what changes may come, Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore told The Tri-City News it is important the province consults with local governments before passing any new regulations.
“Most of us in local government do our own financing,” he said. “We have to make sure that the burden we place on the potential people who run for office isn’t so overwhelming that they don’t run.”
Moore added that he would be opposed to rules that are so strict that they deter people from running, noting that for some it may not be “worth the headaches.”
2015 CIVIC ELECTIONS: THE NUMBERS
The 50 candidates who sought office in the Tri-Cities during the 2015 civic elections raised a total of $890,319, with council candidates bringing in $612,159 and mayoral candidates $278,160.
But how much money was raised and where the funds come from depend on the individual candidates and the municipality they are running in, according to financial disclosure forms released in 2016.
For example, in Coquitlam, corporations contributed $297,225, outpacing unions, which gave $58,570. The highest donor category in Port Moody was labour groups, giving $65,266, higher than the corporate total of $46,524. In Port Coquitlam, corporations led all donor categories with $58,570 while unions and associated groups donated $28,350.
According to the data, incumbents received more money than non-incumbent candidates.
Across the Tri-Cities, councillors running for re-election raised an average of $20,266, while those seeking office for the first time raised an average of $9,894 (mayoral candidates were removed from the average because they generally raise and spend more than councillors, which could skew the average).
The numbers also show that candidates who were elected in 2015 received the vast majority of corporate and union contributions.
The 23 out of 50 candidates (46%) who won office in the three municipalities received 79.7% ($189,471) of all corporate contributions and 63.6% ($78,784) of all union contributions.
In the individual contribution category, the candidates who were elected received 55.7% ($71,802) of all contributions and 44.9% ($80,333) of all self-funded contributions.
@gmckennaTC
– additional reporting by Mario Bartel and Janis Warren
