WHEREAS 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; AND WHEREAS 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 local government election; AND WHEREAS 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; AND WHEREAS a motion from Vancouver to the UBCM in 2009 was pre-empted from debate with the establishment of the provincial governments Local Government Election Task Force: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM support Vancouvers 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.
Ministry of Community, Sport Cultural Development In September 2013, the provincial government released the White Paper on Local Government Elections Reform. The White Paper provided an overview of the intended changes to local elections legislation, as well as the draft Local Elections Campaign Financing Act. The government committed to introducing legislation that, if passed, will bring the proposed changes into effect for the 2014 local elections. The Act would provide for improved accountability, transparency and enforcement in local elections. Specific proposed changes include: -Sponsorship information on all election advertising -Campaign finance disclosure by third party advertisers -Earlier filing deadline for campaign finance disclosure statements -Campaign finance disclosure statements centrally available through Elections BC -Key compliance and enforcement role for Elections BC The proposed Local Elections Campaign Financing Act would apply to all local governments in BC, including the City of Vancouver. Together these changes would bring meaningful improvements to local elections in BC and serve as a strong foundation for introducing expense limits in the next local elections after 2014. The White Paper noted that election expense limits would be explored through a separate stakeholder engagement process beginning in November 2013. The Local Government Elections Task Force recommended that expense limits be established for all BC communities. BC communities range in population from about 180 to 600,000 and the majority do not have elector organizations. Additionally, the local elections legislation applies to boards of education elections. There is significant work to be done to ensure that expense limits would be effective, equitable and enforceable in these different contexts. As part of working towards expense limits for local elections, the provincial government invited the views of the City of Vancouver and all other local governments during the stakeholder engagement process from November 2013 to January 2014. In addition to specifically seeking the views of local governments, the Province issued a discussion paper on expense limits issues and invited public comment. In developing expense limits, the provincial government will consider the perspectives heard from local governments and other stakeholders, such as the public.