Vancouver’s three major civic parties collectively spent $3.3 million on the 2008 municipal-election campaign. In a council meeting today (March 25), they will have the chance to show how far they’re willing to go to limit contributions from big-money donors.

Mayor Gregor Robertson, whose Vision Vancouver party spent the most, at $1.9 million, has announced he is bringing forward a proposal to ban corporate and union donations.

COPE, which spent the least, at $346,730, is prepared to take a step further to reform campaign financing. “You can ban corporate spending and you can ban union spending, but you can still have 10 wealthy people each donate $10,000,” COPE councillor Ellen Woodsworth told the Georgia Straight. “The most important thing that we need to do is to get caps on campaign spending and caps on campaign donations.”

Although Woodsworth didn’t say ahead of the meeting what limits she will recommend, the councillor noted that caps should be tied to the number of registered voters. The NPA forked out $1 million in the 2008 campaign.

Federal election rules on donations may serve as a guide, according to John Whistler, a founding director of the West End Residents Association who has a keen interest in civic affairs.

At the federal level, only individuals are allowed to make contributions. Corporations and unions are barred from writing cheques to political parties. Donations are capped at $1,100 a year.

“It would basically set an amount that encourages grassroots donations, but not at a level that corrupts,” Whistler told the Straight. “You’re not going to corrupt a politician on $1,100 or $1,000. But you might with $10,000.”

In February this year, two SFU professors submitted a study to the Local Government Elections Task Force, which was struck in 2009 by the provincial government to recommend changes that will be put in place for the 2011 civic elections.

The paper, titled “Making Local Election Financing Work in B.C.”, suggests a $1-per-capita spending limit for each candidate, or a $2-per-capita limit for each party.

In addition to recommending a ban on corporate and union donations, the paper proposes a $1,000 maximum contribution per individual in an election cycle.

“If you want to give it in November two years before the election, that’s your business and the party,” coauthor Patrick Smith, director of the Institute of Governance Studies at SFU, explained to the Straight. “If they want to raise it at that point, that’s their business, but they can’t then say, ”˜Okay, now the elections are on, we can raise it again.’ ”

The paper likewise suggests that candidates be allowed no more than $2,000 in personal spending in each election cycle.

Kennedy Stewart, an associate professor in SFU’s graduate public-policy program, is the study’s other coauthor.

“If we have limits on either contributions or expenses, I think the parties and the candidates would be forced to go out into the public more, and it should increase voter turnout,” Stewart told the Straight.

Low voter turnout has been a major concern in local elections. In Vancouver’s 2008 election, for example, only 124,285 of the 403,663 registered voters filled out ballots.

Unlike in most municipalities across the country, there are no expense limits for local-government elections in the province.

A discussion paper released this month by the elections task force notes that campaign costs are generally higher in large municipalities. It remarks that “overall” campaign spending in Vancouver in the 2008 election was estimated at $8.80 per resident, whereas in Kamloops and Parksville it was $1.75 and $2.58, respectively.

The task force will accept public input until April 15. This includes recommendations Vancouver city council will put together at its March 25 meeting.