Vancouver City Council adopted this motion, which was presented at Regular Council on June 24, and was adopted after hearing one speaker at the Planning, Transportation and Environment Committee on June 26, 2013. Click for video clip (best viewed in Windows Explorer) of this discussion at the meeting — one speaker.
The motion calls for Union of BC Municipalities support Vancouver’s request to the Provincial Government for amendments to the Vancouver Charter to allow Vancouver to make rules for election campaign finance that place greater limits on campaign spending and contributions, and provide for greater disclosure.
CityHallWatch views this motion as highly problematic. Giving the incumbent regime at city hall the power to make its own rules would be like letting the rabbit guard the carrot patch. We encourage citizens to talk to their MLA and encourage them NOT to support this direction.
5. Request to Provincial Government Regarding Campaign Finance Rules
MOVED by Councillor Reimer
SECONDED by Councillor Jang
WHEREAS
1. In 2005, 2009, 2010, and 2012, the City of Vancouver has brought forward formal requests to the Province requesting changes to the Vancouver Charter to allow for local governments to create appropriate rules for disclosure and regulation of election campaign finance, which is currently regulated at a standard far lower than Provincial or Federal elections;
2. The funds used to campaign for elected office in Vancouver have grown exponentially in the seven year interval Vancouver has waited for provincial action on this issue, with the unprecedented case of $960,000 donated to one electoral organization from a single corporation in the 2011 Vancouver municipal election;
3. The most recent motion, passed unanimously by Vancouver City Council in January 2012, provoked an informal response from the Provincial Government that they would be amenable to modernizing municipal election and campaign rules if support from a majority of municipalities was garnered;
4. A motion from Vancouver to the UBCM in 2009 was pre-empted from debate with the establishment of the provincial government’s Local Government Election Task Force.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Union of BC Municipalities support Vancouver’s request to the Provincial Government for amendments to the Vancouver Charter to allow Vancouver to make rules for election campaign finance that place greater limits on campaign spending and contributions, and provide for greater disclosure.
The vote CARRIED, with Councillors Affleck and Ball opposed.
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