OSOYOOS TIMES-August 19, 2009
By Laurena Weninger – Osoyoos Times
The single largest contribution made to a political candidate in the Boundary-Similkameen electoral district for last spring’s election was $3,000 – and that was made to B.C. Liberal candidate John Slater.
Candidates are required to file financial reports after an election and they have 90 days to do so.
Then, they are reviewed by Elections B.C. and posted on its website.
The reports include information about the candidates’ income and expenses during the pre-election and election periods – and exactly where that money came from and went too.
There are no political contribution limits in B.C. but the Election Act has set out some specific rules.
For example, anyone who contributed more than $250 in one year must be identified, even if the contributions are made up of several small ones.
Anonymous donations are allowed, but they cannot be more than $50 and can only be made at functions.
They also cannot total more than $3,000 for any candidate for any one election.
In the pre-election period – before the writ is dropped – candidates are allowed to spend up to $70,000.
During the campaign period, they are allowed to spend another $70,000.
Slater came closest to that total during the campaign period, spending a total of $62,205. Lakhvinder Jhaj, the NDP candidate, spent a total of $50,834.
Joe Cardoso, from the B.C. Conservative Party, spent $15,312, and the Green Party’s Bob Grieve spent nothing.
Total income reported by Slater was $99,830— $54,073 of which came directly from the B.C. Liberal Party.
His other income included contributions from individuals (Thomas Dolo gave the most, at $3,000) and corporations (Lakeshore Developments Ltd., under the names of Rudy Loewen and Larry Wiebe, also gave $3,000.)
Cardoso’s total income was $18,200.
His biggest individual contributor was Maria Cardoso, with a donation of $1,250, tied with a contribution from Alvaro Cardoso.
The biggest corporate donor was Regal Ridge, in the amount of $2,521.
Cardoso received no money from the provincial Conservative Party.
Jhaj’s total income was $47,208, which was almost entirely made up of a transfer from the B.C. NDP.
She lists no individual contributions.
Grieve’s total income was $1,533, made up of one individual contribution of $300 from Allison Hutton, $258 from the Green Party and $725 made up of several smaller donations.
The reports can be found online at http://www.elections.bc.ca/index.php/electoral-finance/filed-financial-reports.
