They once looked ready to fight to the last appetizer, but B.C. Liberals might eventually have to give in out of sheer embarrassment and reform the way parties raise money on the cocktail and barbecue circuit.
Based on the first three of the disclosure statements the Liberals started filing this month, dozens of people and firms are proudly making donations that would cost them stiff fines in Ontario, or if they were made federally. Even people who support wide-open campaign financing will eventually realize B.C. is getting left so far behind, the gold rush will have to be toned down.
Although the government won an argument in court this week and enjoys pointing out the Opposition is doing exactly the same, the retreat is beginning.
The government won an easy victory in B.C. Supreme Court over an advocate who tried to press the case for change there.
The case was over a conflict-of-interest ruling last year over the stipend the B.C. Liberal party has paid its leader for years. The NDP tried to get conflict commissioner Paul Fraser to rule against that stipend and failed. Then the Ontario group Democracy Watch tried to get Fraser’s ruling overturned, but failed this week, as well. The general argument was that it’s a conflict of interest for a politician like Clark to appear at big-ticket private receptions when some of the money raised at such events ($50,000 a year) goes to pay her a salary top-up.
The court didn’t even get to that issue. The judge said the group’s argument had a “superficial plausibility,” but dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds in short order.
The much more telling point is that Clark announced even before the verdict that she was surrendering the stipend. “It’s a distraction,” was about all she said about the matter. It was a distraction that was highlighted in the New York Times last week and was going to dog her during the campaign. So she’s giving it up — obviously reluctantly.
The new disclosure system is also a nod to critics of the age-old system.
The B.C. Liberals are rolling out disclosure statements every week or so, rather than the statutory once a year. It does increase transparency, but it doesn’t make much difference on the bigger issue. The $5,000-a-head private parties are still going on, and the money is obviously still coming in.
Clark faced more pressure Friday after news that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau plans to make changes on the federal scene.
Trudeau is facing heat as well over cash-for-access fundraisers. He is reported to be planning legislation that will open up such events, although it won’t eliminate them.
They would have to be advertised and held in publicly available places. Financial reports for each event would have to be released, as well. Federal politicians can charge a maximum of $1,550 a ticket for such events. In B.C., the sky is the limit.
Clark, who just attended an expensive fundraiser at a swank winery in Kelowna the night previously, was noncommittal Friday about Trudeau’s move, saying it was “interesting.”
The one defence she’s been mounting of the status-quo anything-goes system is that taxpayers will eventually be forced to subsidize parties if fundraising reforms extend to banning union and corporate donations. The NDP promises such a ban, if elected, and the B.C. Greens already refuse such donations.
NDP Leader John Horgan won’t commit to taxpayer financing for parties, but it looks inevitable if they win in May and ban those donations.
If the B.C. Liberals win, it’s the wild disparities between provinces and the federal system that will eventually force them to tighten up.
The federal system has banned union and corporate donations for years, and restricts individuals to $1,550. Ontario has just moved to ban ministers and staff from fundraisers and end union and corporate donations. Alberta has just reduced the donation limit to $4,000 and banned union and corporate donations.
In B.C., corporations are routinely writing six-figure cheques, and individuals are paying thousands to shmooz with cabinet ministers.
The contrast is starting to look a bit much.
Just So You Know: A reminder — the toast to Sir Winston Churchill is Sunday, 2 p.m., at his tree in Beacon Hill Park, near the foot of Quadra Street.
