THE ISSUE

When we vote, key decisions have already been made for us. Parties choose candidates and policies. In general, only those who feel comfortable within a party’s machinery participate in that process. How parties are funded influences that party machinery. Federally, recent reforms to the way parties are financed haven’t solved all our problems, but they’ve gone a long way to cement the differences between our electoral system and the U.S. system. Provincially, we haven’t tackled the issue head on, except through the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform, whose proposed STV electoral system seems doomed to fail in the coming election.

Of course, it’s complicated Federal party membership roles are still subject to absurd manipulation. And not every voter, even those deeply interested in public policy, has the time or interest to participate in party affairs.

The bottom line What will your party do to make the public more interested in and welcomed by party-based political process? How would you reform campaign finance? And if the STV referendum fails, would your party advocate other forms of electoral reform?

Green Party of BC

Our party develops policies by a process that deliberately seeks outside input, both from members of the Green Party as well as from non-members. On any given topic, we conduct meetings in various communities in which the public is asked to provide input and guidance. The responses from such meetings are compiled by a policy development team and addressed in the draft stage of policy development. Policy drafts go back to many of those who gave the initial input for comment and or suggestions for revision. In regard to campaign finance reform, we have long advocated for a ban on all donations to political parties from corporations, unions, and societies, and a limit on individual donations of $1,000 per year. We also support legislation to provide public funding of political parties based on percentage of votes cast. In regard to STV: the Green Party has been a vocal supporter of mixed-member proportional representation. Despite this, given the sole option in the upcoming referendum between STV and the status quo, most of our candidates are campaigning in favour of STV. If STV fails, we will continue to work for an MMP system as we view the success of proportional representation as crucial to the restoration of our democracy

Democratic Reform BC

Answer is still pending.

BC Liberals

The Liberal platform contains no information on electoral engagement or reform. On campaign finances, the Liberals defend the current system effective. “Contributions are publicly declared,” Campbell said in the Vancouver Sun, “and people should be able to draw their own conclusions about whether donors get special treatment.” With regard to STV, the Liberals deserve real credit for organizing the citizens’ assembly process that came up with the STV option for B.C. elections, but they have elected to stay neutral on the topic of the referendum and “abide by the people’s choice.”

NDP

On campaign finances, the NDP platform says the party will stop corporations and unions from making donations to political parties by amending the Election Act. The party argues this creates greater confidence in the political process and reduces citizens’ belief that parties are beholden to those who can make big donations. Roughly 80 percent of money donated to the Liberal party is from corporations, while 84 percent of NDP support comes from individuals. However, the party offers no clear position on engaging the public in party-based politics, except to say that politicians need to reestablish trust with the public.