British Columbians demand urgent action to clean up local politics
For Immediate Release
October 26, 2017
BRITISH COLUMBIANS DEMAND URGENT ACTION TO CLEAN UP LOCAL POLITICS
Legislature has until November 30 to bring in much-needed reforms
VANCOUVER — Voters across British Columbia want to see corporate, union and out-of-province donations banned in municipal campaigns before next year’s election, a new survey by Insights West has found.
“The appetite to eliminate the influence of big money in politics is not exclusive to provincial elections,” says Mario Canseco, Vice President of Public Affairs at Insights West. “This survey shows that British Columbia’s voters would like to see similar legislation at the municipal level.”
The online, province-wide poll was sponsored by Dogwood, a B.C. citizen group calling on the province to “Ban Big Money” in politics. 86 per cent of respondents said they would support rules for municipal elections in line with the province’s new regulations on campaign finance. 79 per cent of BC Liberal voters, 92 per cent of BC NDP voters and 92 per cent of those who supported the BC Green party said action should be taken before the next municipal election.
“The government listened to British Columbians and introduced laws at the provincial level, but the job is only half done. Municipal campaigns can still take unlimited corporate and union money from anywhere in the world,” explained Dogwood’s democratic reform campaigner, Lisa Sammartino. “British Columbians expect the government to finish the job, and soon.”
In 2014, the year of B.C.’s last municipal elections, only 45 per cent of money given to candidates came from individual supporters. At the recent Union of B.C. Municipalities convention held this past September, mayors and city councillors voted unanimously in support of campaign finance reform before next year. For legislation to take effect before the next municipal election, the legislature must pass the bill before the current session ends on November 30.
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About Insights West:
Insights West is a progressive, Western-based, full-service marketing research company. It exists to serve the market with insights-driven research solutions and interpretive analysis through leading-edge tools, normative databases, and senior-level expertise across a broad range of public and private sector organizations. Insights West is based in Vancouver and Calgary.
About Dogwood:
Dogwood is B.C.’s largest non-partisan citizen group, uniting more than 260,000 supporters to take back power over our environment and democracy. Dogwood launched its “Ban Big Money” campaign in April 2016.
About this release:
Results are based on an online study conducted from October 22 to October 26, 2017, among 820 adult British Columbians. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region in British Columbia. The margin of error, which measures sample variability, is 3.5 percentage points for each sample, nineteen times out of twenty. Click here to view the detailed data tabulations.
For more information:
Mario Canseco
Vice President, Public Affairs, Insights West
778-929-0490
mariocanseco@insightswest.com
Lisa Sammartino
Campaigner, Dogwood
778-871-4334
lisa@dogwoodbc.ca
