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BC Liberals try to rig election with Bill 42
Submitted by jacob on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 14:42
The BC Liberal Government is attempting to fix the next election by bringing Republican election tactics into British Columbia. These tactics, which are already under court challenge, are the same type Stephen Harper is trying to use federally. Bill 42 is opposed by the BCMP, business groups, unions, the BC Civil Liberties association and poverty activist groups. Why?
Bill 42 will limit 3rd party advertising in the 5 months prior to an election to $150,000 provincially, with a maximum $3,000 per riding. During the 2005 election, Labour groups in the province spent $3.8 Million, mostly on exposing deep cuts to health-care and education services. This law would limit any group for a full 5 months, almost half a year, before the actual election.
To put the number $150,000 into perspective, a single pamphlet mailed to households of a single riding costs over $20,000, a single 30 second television advertisement costs $14,000 and a one day full page add in the Vancouver Sun costs almost $30,000. The $150,000 dollar limit translates into very little actual advertising, and effectively prohibits direct mailings to ridings.
Laws like this are known as “gag laws” as they function to silence or “gag” any group from engaging in the primary mode of political discourse, namely television, radio and newspapers advertising.
Gag laws have been ruled as unconstitutional in BC Supreme Court as recently as 2000. That law limited third party spending during the election itself.. During the debate over the previous gag law, Gordon Campbell stood up in the Legislature and stated “A gag order on third-party interests is simply wrong...simply inexcusable, it is simply unconstitutional and it should not be there. It clearly should not be there as a way of restricting full expression”.
The BC Liberals have included another highly controversial proposal in bill 42. This proposal would require every voter to provide government issued photo ID prior to voting. Unfortunately though for people in British Columbia, photo identification is only standard as a drivers license, non-driving individuals would have to seek out a special photo-ID card, at a cost of $35 dollars, from a drivers license office.
For the poor, the elderly, students and people new to the province, these types of ID requirement has been shown to actually decrease the likelihood of voting. It is important to note that these types of laws have been used by successfully by Republicans in the United States to lower voter turnout from poorer areas which traditionally vote Democrat.
When Chief Electoral Officer Harry Neufeld filed a report on improving the voting system in BC in 2006, he recommended making it easier for people to vote by loosening ID requirements. Neufeld argued that the current ID requirements made voting difficult for people in care facilities, acting as a barrier to voting. Somehow, the BC Liberal government is trying to use that report as the justification for tightening ID requirements.
Bill 42 also attacks smaller parties and independent candidates such as the BCMP by upping the required number of signatures for a candidate from 25 to 75 and the deposit required to be on the ballot from $100 to $250. While this may seem low, consider that there are 85 ridings in British Columbia, for a political party like the BCMP, this will require us to spend $21,250 instead of $8500, enough for a 30 second TV advertisement.
Bill 42 will actually increase what political parties like the Liberals can spend to $2.2 Million in the 4 months prior to an election, and $4.4 Million during the election. The BC Liberals are raising money at double the rate of the NDP, raising more than $6 Million in 2007. This is because 66% of donations to the BC Liberals come from large corporate donors. Compare that with the NDP, which received 90% of it's donations from individuals, in amounts under $1000.
Bill 42 does nothing to limit contributions from big business, leaving the BC Liberals open to continue to receive massive sums from Corporations trying to curry favour. The BC Liberals have spent 7 years removing safety and environmental regulations around the province, as a result, they see massive contributions from mining, forestry, land development, oil and gas companies. For example:
Teck Cominco, which gave the BC Liberals $118,000 in 2007, wanted to open a mine 160km away from the nearest power lines, the problem was that running power lines themselves would have been far to expensive. Enter the BC Liberals who announced a plan to spend $300 Million taxpayer dollars on building power lines into the very area Teck Cominco wanted to mine. The public found out and the project was cancelled, The Liberals, seemingly as a consolation, handed Teck Cominco's former CEO the job of running Vancouver's Coastal Health Authority.
The BC Liberals received $75,000 dollars from GoldCorp the company with the worst environmental fines record on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The Aquilini group, which gave the BC Liberals $50,000 in 2007 received a contact worth $18.5 Million from the Vancouver Olympic Committee and was made an official sponsor of the 2010 Olympic Games.
All in all, the BC Liberals received 4 Million from corporate and business donations in 2007, which accounts for 66% of all money they received. Compare that with the NDP which received $25,000 from business and only $220,000 from unions. 90% of the money the NDP receives is from individuals, for the Liberals, it is less than 25%. Is it any wonder that the BC Liberals are more interested helping their friends in business make money, rather than deal with the real problems affecting regular British Columbians?
Bill 42 will not be debated. It is scheduled to pass, regardless of whether it has been debated or been to committee, on May 29, 2008. The BC Liberals introduced the bill on the last possible day to introduce bills, ensuring that it would be debated as little as possible. If the BC Liberals genuinely believed Bill 42 was good for our democracy, why would they try and sneak it through the Legislature?
The BC Liberal Party is attempting to subvert democracy in British Columbia by rigging an election. The people of British Columbia must stand up to this abuse of the democratic process and demand accountable, free and fair elections in British Columbia.
If Bill 42 concerns you, please visit justshutupbc.com and tell Gordon Campbell and the BC Liberals that you will not be silenced.
The NDP has failed to stand up to the BC Liberal party, British Columbians need an opposition party that will actually oppose, that will hold the government accountable and that will fight to protect democracy. The BCMP is that opposition party. On May 12, 2009, vote for the BCMP.
For More information:
http://thetyee.ca/News/2008/05/12/Bill42/
http://thetyee.ca/News/2008/05/13/VoterIDLaw/
http://thetyee.ca/News/2008/05/19/ElectionLaws/
http://www.justshutupbc.com/
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=41d4f867-...
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/05/02/bc-government...
http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/04/26/Hwy37/
http://contributions.electionsbc.gov.bc.ca/pcs/SA1SearchResults.aspx?FilerSK=(ALL)&EDSK=0&FilerTypeSK=1&Contributor=&PartySK=5&ED=(ALL)&FilerType=Political+Party&Filer=(ALL)&Party=BC+Liberal+Party&DateTo=2007%2f12%2f31&DateFrom=2007%2f01%2f01&DFYear=2007&DFMonth=01&DFDay=01&DTYear=2007&DTMonth=12&DTDay=31
http://www.leg.bc.ca/38th4th/1st_read/gov42-1.htm
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