A Victoria non-profit that ran a get-out-the-vote campaign in the 2018 municipal election was improperly using resources to support Together Victoria — a municipal slate that elected three councillors — a former board member has alleged.



The allegations by Barrett Blackwood, who was the membership director of the Victoria Tenant Action Group (VTAG) until late last year, led to an internal report which found “it is possible that there was in some cases deliberate co-ordination” between VTAG and Together Victoria — though added the group’s members did not act in “bad faith.”



“To the best of our knowledge, there was no deliberate co-ordination between VTAG and (Together Victoria) during the 2018 election,” VTAG told The Capital in a statement. Together Victoria also categorically denies any coordination took place.



“There was no coordination between Together Victoria and VTAG before, during, or after the 2018 municipal election,” it said, in an e-mailed statement, adding it was “not aware of any VTAG resources used in support of the Together Victoria campaign.”



All of Together Victoria’s candidates — Laurel Collins, Sarah Potts and Sharmarke Dubow — won council seats in the election. According to his LinkedIn profile, Dubow was a member of VTAG’s steering committee from August 2017 to August 2018. Collins resigned her council seat when she was elected to federal parliament in October.



In a statement to The Capital, VTAG acknowledged sections of its internal report that said concerns about partisanship were reasonable and that it needs to improve its conflict of interest policies — and said it is taking steps to address these things — but added that Blackwood’s allegations were made in “bad faith.”

City of Victoria council portrait highlighting the three Together Victoria councillors elected in 2018. From left to right, Sharmanke Dubow, Sarah Potts and Laurel Collins.

VTAG registered as a third party in the municipal election, spending $5,774 according to filings. Under Elections BC rules, third parties cannot advertise on behalf of a candidate or a campaign organization.



When Blackwood attended the annual general meeting in November, 2019, he was dramatically ejected from the premises by security when he said he tried to raise his concerns in public — but VTAG said this was due to his repeatedly disruptive behaviour at the meeting.



The Victoria Tenant Action Group began as an initiative of the Together Against Poverty Society, with initial funding by the Victoria Foundation when it launched in 2017. It was founded to create a network of tenants in Victoria who could share information about housing issues, provide them with information about their rights, give advice about dealing with landlords, and offer representation at Residential Tenancy Branch disputes. VTAG incorporated as a non-profit society in 2018.



According to the internal report, Blackwood — who served on the organization’s inaugural board — first raised concerns in the summer of 2018. After VTAG launched a voter drive, dubbed the Municipal Election Renters’ Mobilization (MERM), he noticed the hiring committee charged with finding an organizer to run the campaign consisted solely of Together Victoria supporters.



In June 2018, they would hire a former Green Party organizer who previously worked with Potts. That organizer, Blackwood said, would later attend a Victoria Together strategy meeting in August 2018.



The MERM campaign would send out a survey to candidates for city council about housing issues, in particular asking them if they believed housing was a human right.

Hello! VTAG is launching a Municipal Election Renters Mobilization Campaign for the upcoming #municipalelection. We will mobilize #renters and advocate for strong policy positions in order to improve #tenant rights in the #CRD. #HousingForAll #StayTuned #TAGVictoriaBC pic.twitter.com/lwwTPYo5c5 — Victoria Tenant Action Group (@TAGVictoriaBC) August 24, 2018

It would go on to produce graphics based on survey responses showing Collins, Dubow and Potts — and the Together Victoria slate as a whole — as being more supportive of "housing as a human right" than several other candidates.



In addition, Blackwood alleged that MERM and Together Victoria members were canvassing apartment buildings at the same time. An October 2018 email shows one VTAG member, who was also campaigning for Together Victoria, offering to let MERM into an apartment complex alongside their canvassers. “I'm reaching out to you folks to see if you want to join me at View Towers for an election canvas,” they wrote, on October 6. “Benefit of doing this is we will all have written authorizations from the candidates.”



VTAG’s internal investigation acknowledged the email could appear inappropriate, but said “unless there is evidence that MERM canvassers who did enter worked in conjunction with candidate canvassers, or explicitly endorsed the candidates being canvassed for, this assistance does not constitute wrongdoing.”



Overall, investigators found Blackwood’s concerns about the campaign were not without merit.

“We believe it is reasonable to raise concerns over partisanship in the hiring of the MERM co-ordinators and the execution of the MERM campaign given the MERM leadership’s partisan involvement,” reads the report, dated January 26, 2019.

