The issue:
B.C.’s political parties have been criticized for how they raise money for their campaigns. The BC NDP is often criticized for taking large donations from unions, while the BC Liberals take millions from corporate donors.
The parties’ platforms
The NDP has promised to ban all union and corporate donations to political parties in B.C.
The BC Liberals say they will initiate a review of political donations in the province if they are re-elected.
The Greens stopped accepting corporate and union donations in 2016 and, like the NDP, have vowed to pass legislation banning corporate and union donations to all parties.
The local candidates answered:
Mike de Jong, BC Liberals, Abbotsford West
Would we be worse off if parties had access to less money?
“There are people who believe there should be limits on the amounts people can contribute to the political party of their choice. The problem with most of those arguments is … they usually want to replace that money with taxpayers’ money. I don’t agree with that. I think people should have the right to decide which political party they want to support or if they want to support any political party.”
—
Ron Gray, Christian Heritage, Abbotsford South
What will your party do to change how political donations are made from large corporations/unions? (Abbotsford South all-candidates meeting)
“Our party has long believed that there are three groups that should not be allowed to make political contributions [foreign agencies, publicly traded corporations, and unions]. Privately owned businesses, it’s their own money, they can do what they like with it. Citizens can do what they like, in the way of making political contributions but not publicly traded corporations, unions or foreign entities.”
—
Aird Flavelle, Green, Abbotsford South
What will your party do to change how political donations are made from large corporations/unions?
“We don’t take corporate donations, we don’t take union donations. W take money from people like you because we want to serve people like you. Nobody else needs to be involved. And I don’t agree with all the explanations provided tonight: I used to donate, politically, serious amounts of money and I was making sure that the wheels stayed greased when I did that … We should only take money from individuals and that’s what the B.C. Greens do.”