The NDP’s changes to the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act were intended to increase transparency and cut back on vested interests funding local political campaigns. But after the legislation’s first major test, it’s clear there are loopholes big enough to drive a campaign tour bus through.
After reviewing the 2018 municipal candidates’ campaign finance disclosure statements, we can see no logic in allowing unlimited spending in the year running up to elections and only putting limits on the final month. We can’t fathom any justification for why donated staff time from unions or businesses should be exempted from reporting at all, or why third-party advertising rules only kick in when the campaign period officially starts. It makes no sense to cap campaign spending but allow candidates to run up limitless surpluses of unspent donors’ cash.
Under the old rules, any business or union could give carte blanche. Now it takes days of cross referencing the individual donors’ names to determine who they are, making the new system, ironically, less transparent than the old one.
The disclosures forms are confusing and it’s apparent many candidates do not understand how to fill them out.
Ultimately, after so many years of being the Wild West, British Columbians deserve electoral rules that ensure a level playing field and complete transparency. In some ways, we are closer to that but there is still a long way to go. If the NDP wants our campaign finance laws, and by extension, our elections, to retain any integrity, they need to make some changes and make them fast. No doubt, strategizing has already begun by those hoping to gain office in 2022.
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