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South Okanagan Photos

More discloure for local politicians – four year terms begin

Reforming local election campaign finance
B.C. is changing local election campaign finance rules to ensure accountability, enhance transparency and strengthen compliance and enforcement. Highlights of the proposed legislation include:

Ensuring accountability

  • All third-party advertisers must identify donor(s) and amount (s) of their expenditures; currently there is no requirement for donors to be identified or expenditure amounts to be published.

Enhancing transparency

  • All campaign donations and expenses will be published online via the Elections BC website. Previously there was no requirement to publish disclosure statements online.
  • All election ads must identify the sponsor(s); currently there is no requirement to identify a sponsor.
  • All candidates must disclose campaign donations/expenses within 90 days after an election; currently the deadline is 120 days.

Strengthening compliance and enforcement

  • Extend the time for investigation of alleged contravention to one year; currently the deadline is six months.
  • Establish a key role for Elections BC, including review and publication of disclosure reports.
  • Currently, Elections BC does not play a role in local elections. Under the proposed legislation, Elections BC would have new responsibilities for publishing campaign finance information online and ensuring monitoring of compliance with legislation.

Expanding education and advice

  • Establish a more formal process to guide the development of education and advice on new campaign finance rules.