The City of Vancouver has so far refused to identify municipal politicians' corporate contributors on the Internet, even though this is a council policy. Instead, city staff have blacked out the names of contributors on the versions put on the city's Web site (www.vancouver.ca/).

On March 15, 2005, the COPE–controlled council voted unanimously to put campaign-financing disclosure statements for the mayor, council, and park commissioners on the site. At the time, council's motion made no mention of concealing the names of corporate donors. However, in the same decision council voted for a motion stating that the names of individual contributors and their addresses would be “obscured”. According to the wording of the motion, the city would seek “authority” to publish the names and addresses of individual contributors on the Internet.

After the 2005 November election, city staff chose not to put any of this information on the city's Web site. Instead, citizens must visit the city clerk's office during business hours to inspect the files. Federal and provincial elections officials post lists of corporate and individual campaign contributors on their Web sites (www.elections.ca/ and www.elections.bc.ca/).

Vancouver resident Robert Renger discovered that Vancouver city staff hadn't put this information on the Web site and sought an explanation by sending an e-mail to City Hall on August 30. Paul Hancock, head of information, administrative, and election services, responded in an August 31 e-mail that in a few instances it was “questionable” whether contributors were corporate or individual.

“But in most cases, it was more prosaic: we were under intense pressure to publish the documents on the web, so we distributed the documents to various staff and told them to black out all of the names without trying to distinguish corporate from individual contributors,” Hancock wrote in his e-mail. “In retrospect, it would have been better to take an extra few days to make sure that only the individual contributors were severed. Certainly we will do this by the next election—assuming the law has not been changed by then.”

Renger e-mailed Hancock back, noting that Mayor Sam Sullivan's disclosure form clearly classifies each contributor as an individual or as a corporation. Staff blacked out the names of Sullivan's corporate donors as well as the individual contributors.

“Are City staff willing to repost these disclosure forms in accordance with Council direction (only individual donors blacked out)?” Renger questioned in a subsequent August 31 e-mail. “If so—when? If not—why not?”

Later that day, Hancock replied that in some cases it was still not clear whether a donor was an individual or a corporation. “In most cases—Sullivan's may be an example—it was. Under time pressure, I made a decision to black out all of the donors,” Hancock wrote. “As it would be a substantial amount of work to repeat the severing of all of the forms, I am not prepared to do so. The complete forms are available for inspection at the City Clerk's Office during regular business hours.”

Later on August 31, Renger e-mailed city manager Judy Rogers and city clerk Syd Baxter, asking them to ensure that staff will implement council's policy. “Complying with the letter and spirit of Council's decision would mean reposting the forms with the names and addresses of corporate contributors visible,” Renger wrote.

Under the Judicial Review Procedure Act, any citizen may file a petition in B.C. Supreme Court and try to persuade a judge to issue an order requiring civil servants to obey a council policy.

The COPE–controlled council voted to post donations and financial disclosure forms for the mayor and council on the city Web site after lawyer Thomas Berger submitted his 2004 electoral-reform commission report recommending a ward system for the city. Berger's report included many other recommendations, such as municipal-campaign spending limits, that have not been implemented. Some of those changes would require the provincial government to amend the Vancouver Charter.