This story has been amended since first posting:
Darrell Mussatto spent nearly $97,000 to be elected as North Vancouver City’s mayor in 2014, but, four years later, with new provincially imposed spending rules, mayoral candidates in the city of North Vancouver vying for his position can spend little more than $36,000.
New campaign financing rules were brought in last year by the provincial government. They limit how much candidates can spend, who can donate to political campaigns and how much can be donated to individual candidates and political parties. The amount candidates can spend is calculated using a formula based on position sought – mayor, councillor or school trustee – and the size of the municipality they are running in.
Mayoral candidates for the City of North Vancouver can spend $36,348.80 during the official election period. In the 2014 election, Mussatto, who won the election, spent $96,702, while his challenger, Kerry Morris, spent $78,776.52.
In the 2014 election, the DNV’s Richard Walton was acclaimed mayor as he had no challengers and spent just $2,877 during the election period. Mike Smith, West Vancouver’s mayor, also acclaimed, stated on his financial disclosure forms that he spent no money. In this election under the new rules, the mayoral candidates for the District of North Vancouver can spend up to $53,963.10, and mayoral candidates in West Vancouver are limited to $30,841.10 in spending.
Spending varied widely in the District of North Vancouver in the last election. Coun. Lisa Muri was re-elected as a councillor but spent only $1,013.03 in the process, whereas Robin Hicks spent $20,500 to be elected, according to their financial disclosure statements. The spending limit for council candidates in the District of North Vancouver this time around is $27,335.76.
Council candidates running in the City of North Vancouver can spend up to $18,368.48 on their campaigns, West Vancouver council candidates can spend $15,564.56 and West Vancouver trustee candidates, $18,037.52.
North Vancouver school board candidates, although vying for the same school board, have different limits on their spending, depending on whether they live in the city or district. City school trustee candidates can spend up to $19,233.12, and district candidates up to $27,326.52.
As part of the changes to finance rules, donations from corporations, unions and other organizations are now banned. Only individual people can donate to campaigns and even those donations are limited to $1,200 per year per campaign to an unendorsed candidate, or an individual can donate $1,200 in total to a party and its endorsed candidates.
The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Selina Robinson, responsible for administering municipal elections, said in a statement that after this first election with spending limits, the ministry will see where revisions might be necessary.
“We will be reviewing various aspects of the 2018 general local elections, including experiences with contribution limits, expense limits and third-party advertising rules to determine whether future changes are needed,” her statement read.
Editor's note: This story has been amended to correct an earlier version that stated that Elections BC brought in the new campaign financing rules. The new rules were brought in by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and are administered by Elections BC.
