Adriane Carr targets campaign financing in motion set to go before Vancouver council

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      Vancouver Green councillor Adriane Carr wants to see local municipal parties voluntarily adopt campaign financing guidelines if the provincial government won’t amend its proposed legislation to include them.

      In a motion scheduled to be considered April 15, Carr is calling for council to communicate with Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development Coralee Oakes, and urge her to amend the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act to include restrictions such as spending and contribution limits, and a ban on union and corporation donations.

      Failing that, Carr wants to see an all-party council subcommittee set up to develop campaign finance guidelines, like expense and donation limits, for council to urge all parties to adopt voluntarily.

      “The legal limits have to be put in place by the provincial government, but the voluntary limits can be put in place by the parties acting in good faith to us, to each other and the public,” Carr told the Straight by phone.

      “When you have, you know, many donations in large amounts coming from developers, and when you have spending in the $2.2 to $2.5 million per party kind of numbers, people just shake their heads. It’s such an unequal playing field."

      Bill 20 passed second reading on Monday (April 7). The B.C. NDP is expected to bring forward amendments to the legislation in committee. Several MLAs from the party called for spending limits to be added to the bill this week.

      Vancouver politicians including David Eby and Spencer Chandra Herbert also advocated for the city to be able to change its charter to set regulations for its civic elections, such as expense and contribution limits and a ban on corporate and union donations.

      Carr’s motion notes that North Vancouver city council approved a motion on November 4, 2013 “strongly urging” council candidates not to accept donations from developers with projects or potential projects before council, or from labour unions that represent city employees.

      The councillor acknowledged that the request to the B.C. government on campaign finance limits is not a new one. City council has issued repeated requests on the subject, including asking for the ability to change the Vancouver Charter to implement its own restrictions on election spending.

      "But it’s important to make it one last time, because we haven’t seen Bill 20 until recently when it was tabled one and a half weeks ago, and obviously they did not follow through on our former request to give Vancouver the ability to run elections in Vancouver with election spending limits in place," she stated.

      Comments

      9 Comments

      Boris Moris

      Apr 9, 2014 at 7:53pm

      Carr is green with envy at all those contributions. What she likely can't accept is that very few sane and balanced voters would give money to a contrived and phoney political spoiler party. After all, what good has the Green Party ever done for the environment while their vote splitting continually keeps planet destroying neocon parties in power.

      Don Barthel

      Apr 9, 2014 at 9:51pm

      The vast majority of the dollars to Vision and the NPA come from the entities that benefit most from council decisions (land rezonings for high rises). That is why they are known as the "Developer Parties". And the Developer Parties would have us believe that the money doesn't influence their decisions at City Hall. How dumb do they think we are? Go Adriane!

      Jordan Bober

      Apr 9, 2014 at 11:12pm

      Thank goodness that we have at least one person on Council who has retained enough integrity on this issue that she can stand up and call for sanity! If Vision and the NPA genuinely support spending and donation limits as their councillors have claimed, they must support this motion and do the right thing for democracy.

      Rand Chatterjee

      Apr 9, 2014 at 11:56pm

      What? Are we not grown-ups? Can't stop snacking between meals because our parents haven't forbid it. Can't eat our vegetables because we haven't been told. Can't stop partying until we get slapped with a curfew.

      It all reminds me of the last scene of James Dean's Rebel Without a Cause; two young men race cars toward a cliff daring the other to be the last to bail out. And the other youngsters egg and cheer them on.

      Our city and democracy are being destroyed by the insatiability of political greed. Our politicians drink the Koolaid and binge on campaign grease with not a worry in the world about their starving and homeless constituents. Advertising and spin replace debate and accountability. Do we live in a modern Sodom and Gomorrah?

      odds bodkin

      Apr 10, 2014 at 6:27am

      I'm ok with that motion, but let's see how far it will go. Carr should really lobby her 'party', the NPA who she supported heavily over the past several years. After all, it's the NPA's friends who govern in Victoria the last time I looked. Perhaps I missed it, but her 'Green' agenda didn't exactly bleed through.

      Jordana

      Apr 10, 2014 at 11:21am

      Carr got elected for sticking to Green values year after year and not compromising. Now she can act as our representative in our interests. Odds bodkin, it might not go far now, but it seems like the Greens look to make changes now that will last for the future and not sell out for short-term gains

      Richard Hayes

      Apr 10, 2014 at 12:17pm

      Greens should have voted in years ago. When its right, its right. It has taken us all 30 years to realize it.

      Bela the Bug

      Apr 10, 2014 at 1:39pm

      Is Carr biting the neocon NPA hand that feeds crumbs to her absurdly named party? Birds of a faux feather flounder together. If these two cabals of desperados ever officially unite they could pull another risible moniker out of their collective caucus cavities. EG: NNN (Neutral Non Narcissists)

      stuartm

      Apr 10, 2014 at 5:57pm

      Gregor and the Vision business party can not afford to reduce spending limits and thus level the playing field. Vision relies on corporate and developer funding (almost exclusively) to win the elections... they don't have the policies to get votes so they must outspend everyone else. We need an alternative to the Vision business party to reduce rents, gain affordable housing, improve transit and like.