Vancouver election campaigns will continue to be multi-million-dollar events despite an attempt by Green Party Councillor Adriane Carr to have council voluntarily adopt a set of guidelines to get the big money out of civic politics.
Council voted 9-1 Wednesday against Carr's motion that aimed to put an end to the expensive campaigns by setting limits on contributions, spending and imposing a ban on corporate and union donations.
"I'm saddened that this council is not prepared to do that," Carr told councillors after three hours of debate and discussion at city hall. (Mayor Gregor Robertson was at a TransLink meeting and absent for the vote.)
Carr said she was disappointed her colleagues couldn't trust each other enough to adopt a voluntary system, despite her belief that "sworn enemies" could reach an accord.
In shooting down Carr's motion, several councillors noted how a voluntary system could lead to corruption and were worried there was no mechanism to enforce rules.
"Frankly, I see this motion as very naïve at best — but not only naïve, but potentially very dangerous," said Vision Vancouver Councillor Tim Stevenson.
He was referring to challenges outlined by city clerk Janice Mackenzie who wrote in a memo to council "the implementation of such rules could result in some distortions in the candidate funding activity resulting in reduced transparency, accountability and compliance."
Stevenson reminded Carr that council has for years lobbied the Union of British Columbia Municipalities and the provincial government for electoral reforms.
The provincial government has refused to amend the Vancouver Charter to create a new set of guidelines for campaigns, including spending limits and banning corporate and union donations.
For almost a decade, minister after minister responsible for local government have told council and the Courier that any changes to civic government rules would need to be province-wide, despite Vancouver's outlier status.
Vision Vancouver, the NPA and COPE spent more than $5 million combined in the 2011 campaign, with the NPA receiving a $960,000 donation from the party's chief fundraiser, developer Robert Macdonald.
"We need a level playing field, we need the province to help us get there, we're going to continue to work on that together, we all believe it needs to happen," said Vision Councillor Heather Deal. "This voluntary system would produce quite the opposite. It'll produce a very uneven and, quite frankly, frightening scenario."
NPA Councillor George Affleck said he couldn't support Carr's motion because he was worried that a Vision-dominated council would create a voluntary system that would favour their party.
"I don't think, in my experience, we would have an effective solution at the end of the day," said Affleck, who also noted parties raised significant funds between elections that, under current rules, don't have to be disclosed if collected before December 31, 2013.
Historically, the majority of money given to Vision and the NPA has come from big business, including developers who regularly go before city council with development proposals. Although unions are COPE's biggest contributors, they also contribute big dollars to Vision.
Fern Jeffries, chairperson of the Crosstown Residents Association and co-chair of the False Creek Residents Association, said the perception by many citizens is that council decisions are "tainted" because of the financial relationships councillors have with contributors.
"As a former member of Parliament from the Yukon said very wisely, in politics perception is reality," Jeffries told council in support of Carr's motion. "And it is that perception of a conflict, whether or not it's real, that I think taints decisions and leads to the kind of loss of faith in our parliamentary system and our democracy."
In an exchange with Jeffries, Stevenson said, "I don't even know what people donate." NPA Councillor Elizabeth Ball made the same claim, saying "most of us don't have a clue who donated money to either our party or to ourselves because that is not interesting. What's interesting is the work we do."
All financial disclosure documents from parties and candidates are available for viewing at city hall or on the city's website.
Meanwhile, Coralee Oakes, the provincial minister responsible for implementing reforms to civic government, has told the Courier legislation regarding campaign financing should be in place by the civic election in 2018.
This year's election is November 15.
