Skip to content

Reduce, recuse

City of North Vancouver Coun. Guy Heywood moved a symbolic but ambitious motion in council last week calling for an end to developer and union campaign donations in local elections.

City of North Vancouver Coun. Guy Heywood moved a symbolic but ambitious motion in council last week calling for an end to developer and union campaign donations in local elections.

It's not a surprise at all that those who benefit most from union and developer contributions on this council voted against the motion - though that does not mean they've been bought.

It's probably a safer bet that developers and unions have done their own vetting of the candidates and then do what they can to see that their horse wins in the race.

It doesn't always work for them. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him vote in favour of it.

And spending a wad of cash, whether it's from developers, unions or your personal piggy bank, doesn't buy a seat on council. Voters alone have that power.

But Heywood's motion does come from the right place: a desire to see the council chamber expunged of even the insinuation that every vote isn't being done with the city's best interests in mind.

It would benefit everyone to eliminate that aspect of the debate and focus more on the pros and cons of each proposal.

Heywood's motion ought to be applied with the force of law across B.C. but only the provincial government can make that happen and there's no signal that's coming.

It's too bad. Couldn't we all do with a few less attack ads, campaign leaflets and robocalls anyways?