The race to win the battleground riding of Oak Bay-Gordon Head in the May provincial election was the most expensive on all of Vancouver Island, records show.
Andrew Weaver, the Green MLA who won the seat, outspent his rivals with a campaign budget of $110,180.39, according to Elections B.C. financial reports released Monday.
Ida Chong, the former Liberal cabinet minister, spent $102,755, while NDP candidate Jessica van der Veen spent $104,915, according to records.
Combined, they spent more than $317,850 fighting for Oak Bay votes — roughly $12 per person who voted in the riding.
“We were funded by people, local constituents writing a cheque for $50. We had lots of those,” Weaver said of raising more money than his opponents.
“It came in slow and steady, but near the end, we were getting loads of money.”
The only person to out-spend Weaver on Vancouver Island was unsuccessful Liberal candidate Stephen P. Roberts in Saanich North and the Islands with $115,169.92.
Roberts, who also spent money during his run to win the Liberal candidacy from retiring former MLA Murray Coell, said he needed to boost his public profile.
“We spent money on TV, which I think not many other people did,” he said.
“We were off to a late start, so we needed to get going.”
Roberts lost by 163 votes to the NDP’s Gary Holman, who spent $98,131.42.
Adam Olsen, the Green candidate who trailed Holman by 379 votes, spent $66,727.76.
Not all of the Island’s successful candidates had to break the bank to win votes.
The NDP’s Scott Fraser won his third term as MLA for Alberni-Pacific Rim by spending $23,760.57.
That’s less than half the amount spent by his Liberal rival, Darren Deluca, and is believed to be the smallest amount spent by any elected MLA in the province.
“I have a great team, and we decided to do a bootleather campaign,” said Fraser, who bested Deluca by more than 4,000 votes.
The vast riding of Alberni-Pacific Rim is spread between Tofino on the west coast and Bowser on the east, and is difficult to travel for traditional election door-knocking, Fraser said.
“We spent what we thought we needed. We didn’t overspend or just throw money at it. We sensed we were in a strong position to win and we had a team that judged that very accurately, too.”
Provincewide, the B.C. NDP spent $9.4 million in its failed bid to win government.
The Liberals, who were re-elected with an even stronger majority, spent $11.75 million.
The B.C. Conservatives, who failed to win a seat, spent $154,837.
The top donor to a political party was gold producer Goldcorp Inc., which gave the B.C. Liberals $200,000, according to records.
The top contribution to an Island campaign was more than $18,500 (in two donations) from the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union to Parksville-Qualicum NDP candidate Barry Avis. Avis lost to Liberal Michelle Stilwell.
The BCGEU also donated $10,141 to Cowichan Valley NDP incumbent Bill Routley, who won re-election.
