A group of councillors and candidates from municipalities across the province are meeting on Sunday to review the potential impact of developers on municipal elections and how to remedy influence tied to donations.
They are part of a “loose coalition” dubbed Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE).
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The community leaders will be sharing concerns in a press conference about “the long-arm of the development community industry influencing municipal elections outcomes through ‘individual’-level donations,” COPE said in a release.
The municipal politicians on hand will include both elected officials and first-time candidates coming variously from Vancouver, Coquitlam, Port Moody, District of North Van, Surrey, Maple Ridge, and Mission.
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While it is expected that speakers will bring their own angles to the issue, the group as a whole will be calling for a range of actions at the voter, candidate, municipal and provincial levels.
Issues that the coalition are planning to talk about include:
- Raising voter awareness: raising awareness about developer donations in relation to land-use decisions, encouraging voters to ask candidates if they are accepting developer donations
- Candidate commitments: inviting fellow candidates to take a pledge in this election to not accept developer-linked individual donations
- Improved transparency measures: strengthening council policies to ensure disclosure of donor ties prior to related council decisions
- Municipal lobbyist-contact registries
- Tighten donation rules for those linked to development industry: narrow the range and amounts of permitted campaign contributions to candidates in municipalities outside the developer’s voting district
- Lessen candidate dependence on industry money
- Explore options to extend public financing of municipal campaigns
The press conference is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m.
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