TEAM for a Livable Vancouver says ABC should be penalized for prohibited campaign contributions
VANCOUVER, Dec. 23 -- It’s been a year since Mayor Ken Sim’s party returned to supporters just over $116,000 it accepted in prohibited campaign contributions before the October 2022 civic election.
That happened after TEAM for a Livable Vancouver alerted Elections BC in July 2023 about how ABC had broken the rules. But we’re still waiting to see the result of Elections BC’s investigation of ABC for “potential contraventions” of the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act (LECFA).
It’s worth noting that Elections BC fined a candidate in the Powell River 2022 civic election $2,850 for accepting and not returning $1,100 in prohibited donations.
TEAM thinks ABC needs to be held fully accountable for how it thumbed its nose at the provisions of the Act before voters go to the polls in a by-election to fill one – and possibly two -- seats on council early in the coming year. As then-TEAM President Cleta Brown wrote to the Chief Electoral Officer on March 18: “How long will it take before Vancouver’s voters are made aware of the magnitude of the financial transgressions made by the campaign of the party now holding a majority of city council seats?”
It all boils down to playing by the rules, on a level playing field. As Elections BC Director of Investigations Adam Barnes says in his enforcement notices to candidates who have flouted the provisions of the Act: “Accepting a prohibited contribution gives a candidate an advantage in that the candidate did not need to seek a contribution of that amount from an eligible source, saving the candidate time during a busy campaign.”
TEAM says it’s past time for Elections BC to lay down the law so that ABC doesn’t play fast and loose again, and enjoy an unfair advantage in the upcoming by-election campaign.