VANCOUVER — Vision Vancouver is asking the provincial government to close a loophole in new campaign finance legislation after learning their political rival, the Non-Partisan Association, intends to take advantage of it to raise money from corporate donors.

The NPA is continuing to accept corporate donations, but only for the party’s operational account. This is allowed under the new rules, which bans corporate and union donations and caps individual donations at $1,200 per person, but only for campaigning.

The two parties are readying for the upcoming municipal election: voters go to the polls on October 20, 2018.

There are no limits on how much individuals or corporations can contribute to parties’ operational accounts, said Greg Baker, president of the NPA. He called Vision’s outrage over the NPA’s intention to continue taking corporate cash “grandstanding.”

“Even the devil can quote scripture for their own purposes,” Baker said. The NPA uses operational funds for purposes like paying rent, staff and utility bills, he added, and B.C. law requires all parties to have a financial agent in place who tracks all funds and makes sure money in specific accounts is being used for that purposes.

Vision originally asked B.C. Elections to investigate the NPA on April 16, but changed tack a day later and asked the province instead to change the law.

Vision Vancouver, which currently holds the majority on council, has in the past been a prodigious fundraiser: for the 2017 byelection, in which one council seat was up for grabs, the party raised $278,125 (75 per cent of the money came from 10 real estate developers) compared to the $53,700 the NPA raised.

Andrew Watson, manager of communications for B.C. Elections, confirmed: “There are no limits or source restrictions on money raised for operational purposes, but any money raised as ‘non-campaign’ contributions cannot be used in an election campaign.

“This means that contributions received for operational purposes can never be used for campaigning. Contributions received for operational purposes must be deposited into a separate operational account, and municipal parties cannot pay for campaign expenses out of their operational account.”

Staff for Selina Robinson, minister of municipal affairs and housing, sent StarMetro a statement that said staff are looking into whether changes are needed to “give British Columbians the fair elections they want.”

The statement goes on to say: “It’s disappointing that some parties are looking for ways to bring big money back into local politics.”

Prior to the campaign finance law change, B.C. had been widely criticized for its “anything goes” approach to political fundraising, with no limits on who could donate or how much. Campaign finance was a major issue of the 2017 provincial election, which saw the B.C. Liberals defeated after 16 years in power.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Jen St. Denis is a general assignment reporter based in Vancouver. Follow her on Twitter: @jenstden

Read more about: