Big Money Out of Politics

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It is with great pleasure that I can say the B.C. Government has voted in favour of getting Big Money out of politics in the province. The house voted in favour of the Election Amendment Act (Bill 3), on October 4, 2017. I had the opportunity to speak in support of Bill 3, on October 3, and in support of a fair, and equitable, fundraising platform for political parties. Excerpt follows:

It’s with pleasure that I rise today to talk in support of Bill 3, the Election Amendment Act, 2017, because this will create much-needed electoral reform in B.C.With this legislation, we are getting big money out of politics and ending the Wild West of campaign financing in B.C. This reputation of the B.C. electoral system resulted in our system being diminished in the eyes of the world.

I’m really proud to support this bill, because this bill is going create a fair and level playing field. It’s actually going bring us back to our values and to my integrity to make sure that all British Columbians can take part in our democratic system and feel that the government is representing them and putting them at the heart of B.C. government, not just the wealthy.Why is this such an issue? Why did we get this reputation? Because British Columbians have lost faith, and there is a huge concern that large donations might have an influence on government decisions. This is an issue of integrity, of trust and of transparency, and I hear that from my community. They tell me that they’ve lost trust in their government.People in my community that I’ve spoken to for years, especially during the campaign and, of course, recently, tell me they don’t feel connected to their government. …

People on the streets of Esquimalt, the streets of Colwood, the streets of View Royal and the lanes in Metchosin have all been talking about big money in B.C. politics.British Columbians and people in my constituency want to know their government is working for them and not the highest bidder. For us, with this bill, people will be at the heart of our politics, not just those with deep pockets. …

The B.C. Liberals took $3.6 million from big oil companies, and then they let them rewrite B.C.’s climate plan. They took $55 million from 177 top donors, and then — guess what — these donors have $15 billion in public contracts and government payouts. They received donations of $6 million from just 180 people. That’s an average of over $30,000 per individual.No wonder the members in my constituency are asking questions about this and are concerned and have a real legitimate concern about the old system and ask us what’s going to be different. What are we going to change? …

Look at the B.C. NDP. Over 70 percent of our donations come from regular people, British Columbians. The average donation is around $100. And everyone in my constituency can have confidence that they will have fair and equal access to their MLA and a voice and representation from the B.C. government.We will give British Columbians their government back. Trust in government has been eroded, and we need to tackle that. We need to act on this long-overdue issue, so I’m very proud to stand up here and talk about it. …

… there are many dimensions to this bill, and all of these capture the intent of this bill. The intent of this bill is to create more fairness, more transparency, more integrity — to actually tackle that reputation that we had of being the Wild West of campaign fundraising. This is what British Columbians are demanding. This is what they’ve been expecting. This is what they’ve been looking for. This has been a critical issue for them for a long time.I’m very proud to stand here in support of this bill. It’s really important that we do get big money out of politics. We need to re-establish our reputation as a province that respects democracy and puts government in a position of being there for the people of British Columbia. I want to say congratulations and thank you to the Attorney General and everybody who supported him for all the work that has gone into this really comprehensive bill and for making sure that the core impact of this will bring people back to the centre of government business. I’m really optimistic the bill will receive wide-ranging support in the Legislature because recently all members of the House have said how they now support banning big money.

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