April 29, 2005
VANCOUVER – The NDP has been caught distributing so-called “non-partisan” BCGEU lawn signs from local campaign offices around the province in possible violation of the Election Act.
“There appears to be a concerted campaign by the BCGEU and NDP to circumvent the election spending rules,” said Kelly Reichert, executive director of the BC Liberal Party. “This is a serious matter that requires an immediate investigation by Elections BC and an immediate explanation by NDP leader Carole James.”
The BCGEU has claimed that their “I’ve Had Enough” election campaign is “an internal membership campaign. The BCGEU is not affiliated to any political party.” (BCGEU spokesperson Carol Adams, Victoria News, 22 Apr 2005). This is underscored by the clear declaration in the BCGEU’s Constitution, which in Section 1(f) states that “The Union shall not affiliate to any political party.”
However, evidence has come to the attention of the BC Liberal Party that proves NDP campaign offices are storing BCGEU lawn signs and distributing them to voters. The party has received reports from the following ridings: Esquimalt-Metchosin, Malahat-Juan de Fuca, North Island, West Kootenay-Boundary, and Victoria-Beacon Hill.
The BC Liberal Party has today sent a letter asking Elections BC to investigate. The Election Act prohibits using third party election advertising sponsors to circumvent spending cap and disclosure rules.
“The NDP must immediately turn over all BCGEU signs to Elections BC and provide a full accounting of the value of BCGEU election signage distributed from NDP campaign offices so far,” said Reichert.
Reichert also noted that BCGEU headquarters in Burnaby at 4911 & 4925 Canada Way in Burnaby openly displays NDP election signage, further bolstering the case that the BCGEU and NDP campaigns are one and the same.
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Attachment: Letter to Elections BC
April 29, 2005
By facsimile: 1-866-466-0665
Harry Neufeld
Chief Electoral Officer
Elections BC
PO Box 9275 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria BC V8W 9J6
Dear Mr. Neufeld:
Re: BCGEU signs in NDP campaign offices
It has come to our attention that NDP campaign offices in various electoral districts including: Esquimalt-Metchosin; Malahat-Juan de Fuca; North Island; West Kootenay-Boundary and Victoria Beacon-Hill have B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union (“BCGEU”) lawn signs in them. We are able to provide some photographic evidence should you require or request it. In some instances our complainants were even offered a BCGEU sign (“I’ve Had Enough”) from the respective NDP campaign office.
It appears that there is a concerted campaign by the BCGEU and NDP to combine their resources to effectively circumvent the election spending cap.
We strongly believe that NDP campaign workers are, in addition to their standard campaign signs, assembling and distributing BCGEU signs to NDP supporters. Clearly, the value of these signs should therefore be included as election expenses of the applicable NDP campaigns. And, as soon as the BCGEU signs were accepted at these campaign offices they also became political contributions to those campaigns.
You are aware that we have already filed a complaint with you regarding the lack of appropriate sponsorship information on these signs generally and trust that the appropriate actions are being undertaken by Elections BC in that regard. We thought that you should be made aware of the latest improper use of this offending third party election advertising.
Pursuant to Section 240(3)(b)(ii) of the Election Act (British Columbia) (the “Act”), all third party election advertising sponsors must make a solemn declaration that it “does not intend to sponsor election advertising for any purpose related to circumventing the provisions of this Act limiting the value of election expenses that may be incurred by a candidate or registered political party.” It is our view that by having these BCGEU signs in an NDP campaign office that (a) the BCGEU is breaking its declaration and (b) the NDP is collaborating with the BCGEU in an effort to have election advertising promoting their party and candidates while not recording the same as a political contribution or an election expense of the party and/or specific candidates.
We also refer to Sections 180, 183 and 230 of the Act in support of our submission.
As a result, we request that you:
- Inform these NDP campaigns that they must immediately remove all BCGEU signs from their premises and make an immediate accounting of the BCGEU signs that have been received and distributed to-date as both a political contribution and election expense, subject to the limits, for that campaign;
- Inform the NDP provincial campaign that any signs it or its local campaigns receive from the BCGEU must be included in the election financing reports of those respective campaigns as both a political contribution and an election expense subject to the limits;
- Due to this concerted campaign by the NDP and BCGEU to combine their resources to effectively circumvent the election spending cap, require the NDP central campaign to include the production and broadcasting costs of the BCGEU’s half hour “infomercial” broadcast on Global on April 23, 2005 in their election financing report as both a political contribution and election expense subject to the limits; and
- Similarly inform the BCGEU of the same.
We thank you for your attention to this matter.
Yours truly,
BC Liberal Party
Per: Kelly Reichert
Executive Director
