The
Issues
The
following is intended to provide input for the committee's
consideration based on the status and outcomes of local government
elections in Burnaby, BC, which may not represent the general case
for the issue throughout the province, but appears to be an instance
of a democratic deficit which has grown out of hand, and requires
urgent corrective measures.
Unlike
most municipalities, Burnaby has one long established municipal
political party which has currently been in power continuously for
almost 30 years, is into its third term with no opposition, and under
the current system is likely to rule in perpetuity. The Burnaby
Citizens' Association (BCA) is also unusual in its structure, since
it is effectively a subsidiary of the provincial New Democratic
Party: a membership requirement of the association is pre-existing membership in the provincial NDP.
There
are a number of reasons for this extraordinary success under an
apparently democratic system, and I would submit that good government
is not one of them. While there are a number of areas of the election
process that appear to require scrutiny, this committee's mandate can
go some way to correct a failing in the system that is producing
these consistent electoral results at a substantial cost to the
community as a whole, and possibly reverse the voter apathy which has
been exploited so effectively by the incumbents.
Under
the current system, with no cap on contributions and no qualification
of contributors, the BCA has had virtually unlimited funding and has
outspent their opposition in election campaigning better than ten to
one. This asymmetrical condition has been facilitated by the cozy
relationship the party enjoys with labour unions and property
developers, who provide the lion's share of contributions.
The
numbers, which the City has so far refused to put on line**, speak for
themselves, but in 2011 the unions, with CUPE by far the largest
contributor, gave $134,000 to BCA, and property developers donated
close to $90,000. This was after Burnaby's council, in a submission
to the Local Government Elections Task Force, had recommended that no
limits be placed on campaign contributions, and urged the task force
“not to try to fix something which is not broken”.
It's
no wonder these two groups are so generous in their support of BCA.
The unions, and CUPE in particular, are the beneficiaries of council
policies that accommodate their every wish, and local 23, the union
that negotiates for the employees of City Hall, is in a particularly
egregious conflict of interest. This relationship has an interesting
history, since the mayor's previous calling was as a labour lawyer,
and several of his council members were in union executive positions
in previous incarnations. Concurrently, Burnaby is considered to be one of the most development friendly jurisdictions in the country,
and has on numerous occasions adjusted planning to accommodate
increased densities and other features which help developers extract
the maximum return on their investments.
While
encouraging development at any cost, and ignoring its own zoning
bylaws for the benefit of developers who routinely build
mini-apartment houses on single family lots, the city refuses to
consult residents on mega developments virtually at their doorsteps,
and permits the demolition of low rise rental apartments, to be
replaced by high rise condo towers, contrary to their own long term
development plans and commitments.
Recommendation
While
the current election results, along with all previous ones, indicate
that the most pressing issue in terms of addressing the perceived
democratic deficit is voter apathy, this problem is not part of the
present committee's mandate. However, it is exacerbated and
skillfully exploited with the help of the exceedingly generous
funding which is used to great effect in political advertising and
phone campaigns which any opposition cannot hope to match.
Therefore,
in order to help level the playing field and eliminate the blatant
conflicts of interest inherent in the current process, I recommend
that:
- Corporate donations to municipal election campaigns be eliminated entirely.
- Union donations to municipal election campaigns be eliminated entirely.
- Donations, and any transfer of funds between political parties or similar entities be prohibited.
- Personal donations to municipal election campaigns be capped at a reasonable level, possibly $1,000.
**Elections B.C. has since published the 2014 election expenditure and contribution data, and the numbers for 2011 are available as hard copy at City Hall only, but can be viewed here.
