Tim Collins / News staff
Doug Clovechuk, the rookie MLA for Columbia River-Revelstoke has reacted to the new NDP government’s long promised campaign finance bill, introduced last Monday, by saying it was “like a punch in the nose.”
“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. They tabled legislation to eliminate large corporate donations, which we (the Liberal party) believed needed to happen, but now they’re creating a system where the taxpayers will actually pay for the elections,” said Clovechuk, adding that prior to the election the NDP said the issue of public subsidies would be determined by an independent election authority.
“They broke that promise and, instead, over the next four years, these measures would cost taxpayers in excess of $27-million. I’ve never heard of anything like this. Apparently they do it in Quebec, but we’re not Quebec.”
In fact, the system in Quebec has strict limits on campaign donations and has been described by many, including Christopher Cotton, political economist at Queen’s University in Kingston as the “gold standard” to which all provinces should aspire.
But British Columbia and Quebec aren’t the only jurisdictions to have seen this sort of legislation. The Quebec model is based on the federal funding model that was in place at the federal level until it was cancelled by the Harper government prior to the 2015 election.
Ravi Kahlon, NDP MLA for Delta North, feels that Clovechuk’s indignation ignores the Liberal party’s actions prior to the last election.
“Their actions led to the need to reform. For example, they accepted $55-million from 177 donors and many of those donors benefited from $15-billion in government contracts. When only the rich have access and influence it erodes public confidence in the system. That is fundamentally damaging to our democracy,” said Kahlon.
Up to this point, B.C. and Saskatchewan were the only provinces without any caps to donations, a situation that led to criticism by the then opposition NDP that the past Liberal government was indulging in a “cash for access” methodology in which the very rich and corporate interests were granted far more direct access to the political power-base of the Liberal party than the average citizen. The Liberals countered with accusations of their own that big unions were funding the NDP; claiming that it was an identical situation.
The bill introduced by the NDP would address both corporate and union donations as well as ban out-of-province contributions, cap individual donations at $1,200 annually, and curb the use of third parties as vehicles to get around the new limits. The limits to individual contributions would be among the most restrictive in Canada. To replace some of the lost revenue resulting from the changes, a public subsidy tied to votes received in the most recent election would be enacted, and start at “$2.50 a vote next year, decreasing to @1.75 a vote in 2022 when the subsidy would be reviewed in total.
“Anyway, the NDP is doing exactly what they accused us (the Liberal Party) of doing. They’re hypocrites. They’re doing it right now, raising money through events. What’s the difference?” said Clovechuk.
“The difference, said Kahlon, is that any fundraising happening now cannot be used to fund election expenses, and in fact, the new law would be applied retroactively to donations currently held by political parties that would be prohibited under the changes. So while the NDP has indulged in fund raising events that have raised eyebrows on the part of some British Columbians, the legislation says prohibited donations will cease and those collected to date cannot be used in future elections. (They can, however, be spent on capital, staff or other expenses before the next campaign begins.)
“I guess Doug (Clovechuk) didn’t read that far into the bill. “We’re not the same and will not sell access to our government for any amount,” said Kahlon.
Regardless of the claims and counter claims by the two main political parties in B.C., Clovechuk remains fundamentally opposed to the changes to the campaign funding bill.
“I’ll be voting against this bill and will fight against it with all I’ve got,” said Clovechuk.