Big money is about to be a thing of the past in Richmond.
On Monday, Selina Robinson, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, announced changes to the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act, which will ban corporate and union donations to municipal politicians and limit individual donations to $1,200 per year.
“With this legislation, people can be confident that their local and provincial governments will be working for all voters, not just those able to write the largest cheques,” said New Democrat Robinson, via a statement.
Notably, a single donor’s total annual contributions to the election campaign of a party or slate, and all of its endorsed candidates, cannot exceed $1,200.
The changes may have only a limited impact on the 2018 elections because the rules are effective as of Oct. 31, 2017; many candidates already have significant war chests.
Regardless, the move was welcomed by most municipal politicians.
“B.C. local governments have been asking for a ban on corporate and union donations and a cap on contributions to local election campaigns since 2015,” said Wendy Booth, Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) president, via a statement.
In Richmond, 2014 saw the most expensive election campaign in the city’s history, with more than one million dollars (an estimated $1.05 million) spent by political candidates.
With expenditures of $329,000, the RCC trumped spending by Richmond First, a long-standing slate that had normally led the way in spending corporate dollars.
The RCC raised $148,000 via corporate donations however three individuals accounted for significant contributions to the slate: Communications consultant Bruce Rozenhart contributed $14,000; developer Dana Westermark of Oris Consulting contributed $6,900 plus a $10,000 loan, and Coun. Chak Au contributed about $15,000.
The RCC also garnered $20,000 from ALW Investment Group and $5,000 from Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, which operates the River Rock Casino and Resort.
Great Canadian also donated $7,500 to Richmond First, which took in $17,000 from prominent developer/real estate agent Raman Kooner, via numerous numbered companies and corporations.
Berry farmers played a significant role in election funding.
Richberry Farms and BK Farms, owned by Peter Dhillon, contributed $5,000 each to Richmond First while RCC council candidate Sal Bhullar’s company Sunshine Cranberry Farm Ltd. contributed $5,000 to the RCC.
Meanwhile, Mayor Malcolm Brodie received $170,000 from corporations for 2014 (including $6,025 from the casino).
Couns. Carol Day and Harold Steves openly supported campaign finance reform in 2014, as Day called for limits and listed her donations from individuals in real time. Day funded her own RITE Richmond campaign to the tune of $7,100 as well as another $2,010 from her company Cat Signs (under new rules she’d only be able to donate $4,800 to herself in a four-year cycle).
The only independent on council is Coun. Alexa Loo. Nearly half of her $10,600 campaign was financed by union donations.
Steves took to Twitter Tuesday indicating the $1,200 limit does not go far enough.
“That is still enough to influence councillors,” he said.
