Orders of the Day

Hon. M. Farnworth: I call continued second reading debate on Bill 9, Local Elections Statutes Amendment Act.

[S. Chandra Herbert in the chair.]

Second Reading of Bills

BILL 9 — LOCAL ELECTIONS STATUTES
AMENDMENT ACT, 2021

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Members. If you wouldn’t mind taking your business outside of the chamber if you’re going to have chitchat, that would be great, so we can get on with the orders of the day.

Hon. J. Osborne: I move that the bill now be read a second time.

I’m pleased to rise in the House today to speak to this important piece of legislation which continues the work that was started when many of my colleagues were sworn in, in 2017.

The proposed amendments to the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act, otherwise known as LECFA, will build on the landmark changes our government made in 2017 to help put an end to big money in politics and put people back at the heart of provincial and local elections.

Bill 9 continues the ongoing work to strengthen ac­countability and transparency in local elections. In 2018, we saw the first wave of general local elections under the full suite of campaign financing rules. Bill 9 responds to the analysis and consultation following the 2018 elections, including consultation with Elections B.C., First Nations that use LECFA, local governments and boards of education.

These changes will more closely align the campaign financing rules for local elections with those established for provincial elections in the Election Act while continuing to account for the unique nature of local elections. Specifically, the proposed amendments will enhance the regulatory framework for elector organizations, increase the time period during which election advertising is regulated before an election, clarify what activities fall under election advertising, implement sponsorship contribution limits, enhance enforcement tools by establishing additional investigations tools and administrative monetary penalties and make minor changes to help ensure the local elections financing framework is effective and works as intended.

[11:00 a.m.]

The work undertaken to bring forward today’s amendments was significant, and I would like to thank ministry staff as well as the governments and organizations who made Bill 9 possible. These amendments address specific issues identified by ministry staff as part of monitoring work undertaken during the 2018 general local elections, and they respond to recommendations made in the B.C. Chief Electoral Officer’s report on the 2018 general local elections.

We developed this bill following consultations with key stakeholders, such as Elections B.C., boards of education, First Nations that use LECFA and the Union of B.C. Municipalities, which represents B.C.’s 189 local governments and the Islands Trust.

As local elections also include board of education elections, the Ministry of Education and the B.C. School Trustees Association were also consulted. Consultations were held with the Sechelt Indian government district, as LECFA applies to elections of the Sechelt Indian government district advisory council members. Notice was also provided to all modern treaty nations in relation to amendments to permit canvassing in condominium and similar buildings.

Central to this legislation are changes that will enhance the regulatory framework for elector organizations. Over 64 elector organizations participated in the 2018 general local elections. They were primarily active in communities in the Lower Mainland, but where they are active, they can have a significant influence on local elections. They participate in elections by endorsing and campaigning together and on behalf of their endorsed candidates. Elector organizations are increasingly being recognized as civic political parties.

Many of the changes we are proposing respond directly to the B.C. Chief Electoral Officer’s recommendation from their report on the 2018 general local elections. As part of the B.C. Chief Electoral Officer’s role in administering LECFA, they are required to provide a report on their experience administering LECFA in each general local election and may make recommendations for legislative change.

This new framework will result in elector organizations being treated more like provincial political parties under the Election Act but continues to accommodate the elements that make local elections unique from provincial elections. Bill 9 will create a new centralized registration framework that will be administered by Elections B.C.

Currently the registration of elector organizations, also known as civic political parties, is overseen by each local government. Elector organizations register with a local government by filing endorsement documents for each election in which they intend to endorse a candidate. Elector organizations will be required to be registered in order to accept campaign contributions, endorse candidates or incur election expenses. As part of being registered, they’ll need to file an annual financial report with Elections B.C. This report will provide greater transparency into the financial activities of an elector organization outside of an election year.

In addition, elector organizations will be prohibited from receiving non-campaign contributions that have been used to fund operational expenses in non-election years, meaning elector organizations will be required to fund all expenses through campaign contributions. This change will remove the ability of organizations, such as businesses and unions, from supporting these elector organizations indirectly by providing funds for operational or administrative use in non-election years.

These changes will also increase the period of time during which election advertising is regulated before an election. Election advertising is currently only regulated during the 29-day campaign period. The proposed amendments will extend the length of time that election advertising is regulated by creating a pre-campaign period that will precede the campaign period by 60 days, consistent with the provincial Election Act.

Changes to the rules governing election advertising will enhance the transparency of advertising by making it clear who is sponsoring advertising during the pre-campaign period. This will also provide greater consistency between election advertising rules under LECFA and the Election Act.

The types of activities that are captured as election advertising will be clarified. This will ensure that paid canvassing activities, such as door-to-door canvassing or canvassing by telephone and mailing election materials on a commercial basis, will be subject to election advertising rules.

[11:05 a.m.]

Establishing sponsorship contribution limits will limit the amount that can be contributed to third-party advertising sponsors, consistent with changes made in 2017 establishing a $1,200 limit on campaign contributions. Sponsorship contribution limits will track with the campaign contribution limit, approximately $1,200 a year but adjusted each year for inflation, and are consistent with the provincial contribution limits — again, $1,200. Sponsorship contribution limits are important to limit the potential influence of large donors on discourse during an election. Sponsorship contribution limits will work to further level the playing field in local elections and reflect the recommendations of the B.C. Chief Electoral Officer.

Creating new investigative powers and establishing a more robust administrative monetary penalty framework will greatly improve the ability of the B.C. Chief Electoral Officer to conduct investigations and make compliance and enforcement decisions under the act. Currently, the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act only includes monetary penalties in relation to exceeding election expense limits or the amount allocated under a campaign financing arrangement and in relation to exceeding election advertising limits.

The new administrative monetary penalties generally mirror those found in the provincial Election Act, and they allow Elections B.C. to also issue monetary penalties for additional violations of LECFA, which are more effective than offences that must be prosecuted through the courts. Examples of the violations Elections B.C. will now be able to issue include failing to register as an elector organization or a third-party sponsor, advertising that fails to include sponsorship information, and for accepting prohibited campaign contributions, sponsorship contributions and loans.

New investigative tools also include the authority for the B.C. Chief Electoral Officer to seek court orders for information from third parties, such as financial institutions, and to request records from social media companies, like Facebook, that offer advertising to identify who is sponsoring advertising. This builds on the existing enforcement framework to ensure the B.C. Chief Electoral Officer has the tools they need to conduct effective investigations of potential rule contraventions, and it will create greater consistency with the tools available for conducting investigations under the Election Act.

Minor changes to the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act are being proposed to facilitate the administration of campaign financing requirements in local elections. They are intended to ensure that the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act functions as intended and that the B.C. Chief Electoral Officer has the necessary authorities to continue to effectively administer the campaign financing rules under the act.

These minor amendments include expanding the B.C. Chief Electoral Officer’s authority to make minor corrections to disclosure statements and supplementary reports, to include annual financial reports and extending late filing timelines for supplementary reports and annual financial reports, consistent with the existing timeframe for disclosure reports; changing the current three-day requirement to allow candidates and elector organizations to modify a campaign financing arrangement, known as a CFA, up until general voting day; and specifying that an administrative monetary penalty applicable to an en­dorsed candidate or an elector organization in relation to exceeding a CFA allocation between a candidate and an elector organization would only apply if both the CFA limit and the candidate’s or the elector organization’s overall expense limit is exceeded.

Finally, proposed amendments to the Local Government Act, School Act and Vancouver Charter to address concerns raised by local government, administrators and the public regarding specific aspects of local elections administration. These changes will ensure candidates have access to residential properties, such as strata properties, to canvass voters and distribute candidate information. They’ll address the disenfranchisement of some individuals by removing the requirement that individuals must have been a resident of their community for at least 30 days in order to vote. And they’ll ensure consistency among the choices that a court has when declaring an election invalid to improve efficiency for local governments.

Together, these changes will enhance the elections ad­ministration framework for future local elections in B.C.

In conclusion, these proposed changes to the campaign financing rules for local elections will further build up the comprehensive framework already established in the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act to ensure people are at the centre of government decision-making.

[11:10 a.m.]

The amendments will strengthen the transparency and accountability in the campaign financing activities of local elections participants, particularly elector organizations, and provide the B.C. Chief Electoral Officer with more tools when investigating potential contraventions of LECFA in making compliance and enforcement decisions.

The proposed amendments will first apply to the 2022 general local elections. This delay in application is to ensure the smooth transition of the new rules and so as to not impact any ongoing or scheduled by-elections between now and the next general local elections.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank you and the members of the House. I look forward to hearing from my colleagues in the continued debate today on the second reading of this bill.

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Minister.

Recognizing the member for Penticton.

D. Ashton: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I greatly appreciate that.

First of all, I would like to recognize the Minister of Municipal Affairs. I congratulate her on her win in the last election and congratulate her on her appointment. I look forward to working with her, in conjunction, for the best interests of all people in British Columbia that people like her, myself and my peers in the Legislature have the opportunity to administer.

For me, it is something that I do not take lightly. I know that each and every one of my peers in the House do the same. We know we are entirely privileged to have this opportunity, and I just want to ensure that it carries on in an appropriate way and a continual way, because we can never forget where we come from.

I’d also like to say to the minister that I have the incredible pleasure of coming out of municipal politics and regional politics, similar to her. And I also come from an area, similar to her, that relies an incredible amount on tourism. I look forward to some return to normality, where both of our areas again can host the world in the entire vistas that we are so privileged to have in our respective areas that make a huge difference.

Again, Minister, I look forward to working with you.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank you for the opportunity today to address Bill 9, the Local Elections Statutes Amendment Act. The electoral process is a foundation of our democracy, whether it’s federal, provincial or local government. As we know, many of us have arrived from local governments and some actually from the federal government. I’m glad to hear their input into provincial politics. But once again, I say that we have to represent the people from where we’re elected, and that is most imperative.

Any electoral process should never be written in stone, and this legislation is intended to reinvigorate how we choose our elected officials at a local level. In this case, the bill particularly amends the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act, Local Government Act, School Act and the Vancouver Charter. Furthermore, Bill 9 will closely align with the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act rules for those established for provincial elections within the act.

This is one of the reasons why I, and I hope my fellow members in the B.C. Liberal caucus, will be supporting this legislation in principle only after a thorough discussion with the minister and her staff at the committee stage, as long as no issues are discovered that would affect ad­versely the citizens who we represent. In the meantime, it is worth noting that a great deal of this legislation pertains to campaign financing at the local level. And because this reform is necessary in an advancing digital era, we have to take a hard look at this.

In summary, as the minister has said, the legislation establishes a pre-campaign period for election advertising regulation from 29 to 89 days, includes paid canvassing activities as election advertising, requires civic parties to register with Elections B.C., file annual financial reports instead of just during an election year, bans civic parties from accepting non-campaign contributions to pay for operational expenses in non-election years, provides Elections B.C. with new investigative tools to support investigations and to ensure that the processes are fair and equitable for every individual that puts their name forward.

It provides Elections B.C. with additional penalties to fine people who do not comply with the rules and the process, and it also removes the 30-day local residency requirement in order to vote, as that has pros and cons. That is something that I’m quite sure will be discussed during the committee process. It allows access for strata properties and other properties for canvassing. That has always been an issue.

[11:15 a.m.]

I look upon my peers that are from the Lower Mainland and look at all those large towers inhabited by residents and wonder how they have the opportunity to be able to show those residents what they want to do for them. That’s a difficult process, and I hope that that also comes into consideration in the future.

It also removes a requirement of a ministerial order to trigger a by-election if the courts declare the election invalid. And by moving forward, it applies, 2022 and beyond, to all local elections and by-elections. In regards to the pre-campaign period, in the spirit of fairness…. Again, in a rapidly advancing digital era, it is necessary to establish a pre-campaign period for election advertising regulation from 29 to 89 days.

While this bill does cover electronic advertising, it also covers traditional mediums such as billboards and television commercials. More importantly, this legislation will require the sponsor to be clearly identified — who will have to say who is sponsoring and what during the pre-campaign period. That is very, very important today — that people actually know who the person that is asking for their support represents and who the people or the organizations are behind them in their possible support of that individual who is running for office.

As advertising continues to develop at the digital level, this legislation covers paid canvassing activities also as election advertising. This includes paid individuals who go door-to-door and support a candidate or a party. They will, thankfully, be subject to election advertising rules. For me, again, this is incredibly important, especially during COVID. Not many of us appreciate somebody knocking on our door that we don’t know. Unfortunately, it may be a sign of the times in the future, and we just want to ensure that everybody that is in support of a local candidate is recognized as so and ensure that that is documented and handled properly.

One feature, the way I look at it, that is a long time coming is the third-party contributions of up to $1,200 a year matching the donation cap. Third parties have pros and cons in the way they support and how they support, and I’m very glad to see that something like this is being brought forward.

On that note, I would also like to see, and I will be asking the minister…. Because there are entities out there that train and give advice in many ways, and some are more efficient at doing it. My understanding is there are actually schools, and I am hoping that they will also come under the auspices of Elections B.C. and have to report how and what they are doing.

Under civic partnerships, to keep up with the modern era that we’re all in right now, Bill 9 requires civic parties to register with Elections B.C., to file an annual financial report instead of just during the election year, and that, again, is very important. This is a feature of the legislation that recognizes that people do take part in the local democracy on an ongoing basis. I think that’s very important, not only for them to be registered but for the general public to know who and what so they’re supporting the candidates of their choice.

I mean, it effectively bans civic parties from accepting non-campaign contributions to pay for operational ex­penses in non-election years. Again, this is long overdue. With staff salaries and office supplies and etc. that some campaign and some parties carry on, even not in election years…. That all has to be funded through election campaigns. I really think that this is long overdue.

The bill also provides Elections B.C. with new investigative tools to investigate the following, and it can request the records from companies that deal with online advertising to understand who is sponsoring that advertising and how much was spent. It can also request a court order seeking records from financial institutions.

In addition, this legislation provides Elections B.C. with additional penalties to fine people who do not comply with these rules. Again, politics in a democracy…. The best democracy level, as far as I’m concerned, has always been the local level, and it’s good to see these rules coming in. There are new violations as failing to register a party or failing to include sponsorship information on electoral advertising and accepting prohibited contributions and sponsorship contributions and loans. These are violations that should be looked at.

[11:20 a.m.]

I hope that the Chief Electoral Officer uses his discretion wisely on all of these, and I look forward to the opportunity to have the opportunity again during the committee process to speak directly to the minister, to speak to her wonderful staff that I’ve had the pleasure of dealing with over the years, and let’s make this better for everybody in the province that runs, whether it’s at the local level and/or the provincial level. When I say local, that is municipal politics or school boards and/or regional politics.

Hon. Speaker, I would like to wrap up at this point in time and once again thank the minister for this opportunity and thank you for the opportunity. I look forward to coming up ASAP in committee stage, and I can assure the minister that we’ll have lots of good questions for her and her staff.

J. Sims: It is a pleasure today to rise — well, not rise; I’m going to sit — and speak on this motion today. I remember when I first got elected in 2017 and the kind of finance rules that existed for provincial elections at that time. Having come from being an MP to that, I was amazed at the unlimited bounty that could be given by businesses, by unions and individuals. At that time, I also remember the many articles, not only national and provincial but international, that were written about the wild, wild west.

I’m very proud of the work that the Attorney General did at that time to bring forward legislation that would set limits for provincial, and some of that work was done for the municipal at that time as well. However, what happened during the 2018 elections…. It was realized that there were some areas that still needed to be addressed, so this legislation actually aims to do that.

For this legislation to be put together — just so we know, it wasn’t written in a vacuum. It was written in consultations with Elections B.C., with their input; the Union of B.C. Municipalities, which represents every one of B.C.’s 189 local governments and the Islands Trust; First Nations that utilize the Local Election Campaign Financing Act; and the B.C. School Trustees Association, which represents all the boards of education. So input was sought from all of these groups, and then this legislation was put together.

I always think that when legislation is introduced, it’s always worth finding out what the partners or those who participated in the input have to say about it. I have a quote here that I will have to read out because I didn’t memorize it, from UBCM president Brian Frenkel, and this is what he has to say. “These changes strengthen the rules governing local government election finance by increasing transparency,” said Brian Frenkel, president of UBCM. “Local governments endorsed a call for these changes in 2020, and we appreciate the government’s response well in advance of the next local government general election.”

It is so good to see that this legislation does have overall support. Hearing my colleague from the opposition, I think there’s a lot of consensus to be found from the comments he made, and I want to thank him for the comments he made acknowledging that we do need to have some guidelines and that these things do need to get addressed.

[11:25 a.m.]

I want to thank, once again, our minister for the work she has done on this, and I want to now start to highlight some of the changes that we are going to be seeing.

One of the first things in here is going to be…. There will be improvements in the regulatory framework for elector organizations. We have provincial parties. We have federal parties. And I know this is going to come as a surprise to some of the smaller municipalities around the province, but in many of the larger municipalities, medium-sized and maybe even small, there have been parties or pseudo-parties often called elector organizations, but they basically operate like a civic party.

That’s why these rules are…. There will be requirements now for these civic parties, elector organizations or groupings of people who get together to work together for an election — because that’s what they become when they group together — to register with Elections B.C. so that they can accept contributions, endorse candidates or incur election expenses. Currently, elector organizations register with each local government or jurisdiction where they endorse a candidate. So this is a different requirement now. Now they have to register with Elections B.C., and then they get governed by the rules that exist.

They have to be accountable for the funding they receive, not only during the election year or for the period of the election. But every year now, they will have to file a report on their finances — incomings and outgoings. That’s really important as well, because if you don’t have this going on for the full election or for the between-election cycle, what you can get is, once again, that unfair, unfettered fundraising that could really impact.

You know, when we start to look at fundraising and put a level playing field out for everybody, the main goal here is to put the voter, those who vote, actually at the centre of the decisions that are made and to take away big business, big unions — I’ll use the same term — or big developers with deep pockets putting in large sums of money with the hope that they can then start influencing policy. I think this legislation is long overdue, and I’m actually absolutely delighted that this is here.

Also, there will be changes around election advertising. The pre-campaign period is now going to be extended from 29 to 89 days, which means that pre-campaign period election advertising — billboards, commercials, how­ever it is; radios, which are very popular in my part of the woods — spending limits will apply during the campaign period, and there will be accountability for the pre-campaign period as well.

And there will be now new limits on third-party advertising. So you can’t just go to a friend with deep pockets, or an organization, and they’ll say: “Oh, you don’t worry about it. We’ll do the advertising for you.” Once again, they will have spending limits that are the same for everybody. That, once again, makes it fair.

It’s good to make rules, but unless there are investigative tools and enforcement, they are just there as guidelines. What this legislation does is modernize our election financing for local government. That means there are tools now for investigating and enforcement. I’m very, very happy to see that. The Local Elections Campaign Financing Act now has it so that the B.C. Chief Electoral Officer can investigate and can request records from companies that deal with online advertising to understand who is sponsoring that advertising and how much was spent and request a court order to seek records from financial institutions.

[11:30 a.m.]

All of us like to think that all of us are going to follow the rules, but as we know, people will find a way. Having these enforcements in place is really good.

Changes are also being made to help with the administration of campaign financing, such as extending late filing timelines, allowing Elections B.C. to make minor corrections and allowing candidates and elector organizations to modify a campaign financing arrangement up until election day.

There is also an improved framework for monetary penalties. There will be penalties for failure to register as an elector organization or a third-party sponsor, penalties if you fail to include sponsorship information for the ads that take place and penalties for accepting prohibited campaign contributions, sponsorship contributions and loans.

So, basically, this piece of legislation not only closes some of the loopholes or some of the problems that were pointed out to us, but it also puts penalties and enforcement in place and modernizes that part of the act. Some people are going to be saying: “Who does this act apply to?” Local governments. That includes your municipal government, and it includes the school trustees as well — so your local boards of education. That’s why it is really, really important that this legislation come in at this time.

Now, I know there will be…. I was shocked, and I know many of you will be shocked, when I heard a colleague who ran previously as a city councillor saying that one of the organizations in the city where he ran spent over $4 million on a municipal election. I know that for those of you who I’ve met as I’ve travelled in the province before, that is just incomprehensible. But I can tell you, coming from the Lower Mainland, I find that incomprehensible as well.

That is why we really had to look at making it more of a level playing field. With the previous financing rules and without the limits, what could happen is that those who had connections with people with deep pockets, whether it be organizations or whether it was individuals, could gather large sums of money and could then impact the local media in a huge way by doing big buys. They had an advantage over those who may not have had those abilities.

I think that when you run to be a school trustee, when you run to be a city councillor or a mayor or whether you run to be an MLA or an MP, your own financial situation, who your friends are, who is going to donate to you and who you can persuade to give you big dollars should not be determining who runs. Our democracy is stronger when we have an open and a transparent system where everybody has the ability to run, where they are playing by the same rules and where there are limitations on the moneys that can be collected.

Now, is this going to stop some municipalities spending more than others? Absolutely not. But what it is going to do is it’s going to limit how much a group, a business or an individual can donate to that company. That way, more people will actually get engaged in civic financing — with this piece of legislation. This is not an issue that is new — issues around election financing. I know that I’ve been hearing about it for a long, long time, and I definitely know that other members of the Legislature hear about it too. My colleagues from Surrey will attest that we’re not any different than Vancouver or some of the other bigger municipalities when it comes to the kind of moneys that have been spent in the past.

I am hoping that this piece of legislation will encourage [audio interrupted] to put their names forward to be able to serve as a school trustee or to serve as a local government as well. We already have rules for the provincial and federal.

[11:35 a.m.]

This does not stop people from donating. This does not stop people from playing a financial role in elections. The only thing this does is say there’s a limit of $1,200. And when there is a limit of $1,200, that is exactly what it means.

Now, with this piece of legislation, there will be enforcement tools at the hands of Elections B.C., but also to investigate if big companies, those with deep pockets, are maybe finding creative ways in order to support their candidate or their electoral slate of choice.

As I’ve said before, for many people around the prov­ince, the idea of civic parties at the local level may not even have entered their world. But in the larger cities and, certainly, in some of the middle-sized ones, people do get together as a group to run on a platform, and there is nothing wrong with that, just as we have provincial and federal parties that run on common platforms. For me, having electoral organizations is what happens, and if it’s what happens, then we need to make sure we have governance in place to ensure that the election finance rules apply to them and can be enforced as well.

With that, I am going to say that I would like to end my words. Before I go, I do want to acknowledge my staff. I have a brand-new LA here in Victoria, Pavan Sodhan, and he is stellar and getting to know the job. I’ve really appreciated all the support he has provided me with since I have come to Victoria — setting up the new technology and everything else. So thank you, Pavan.

As always, thank you to Mindy Bansal and Jen Campbell back in my riding, who do stellar work in that area.

I do want to say farewell to Naz Sabharwal, who has left us and has gone on to work for another MLA. We will miss you, but the next MLA is very lucky to have you.

I do support this legislation, and I’m really happy to see that this legislation has support from across the aisle as well.

C. Oakes: It truly is an honour to have the ability to speak today.

I would like to recognize that I’m speaking to you today from Lhtako territory.

I haven’t had the opportunity to congratulate the Minister of Municipal Affairs, and I would like to do that. For many of us, we come from local government and certainly have had the privilege of working with the minister in the past when she was the mayor and really appreciated the thoughtful approach that she brought forward. I certainly look forward to working with her today.

I think it’s also really important to acknowledge the incredible work that has been done on both this piece of legislation, the Local Elections Statutes Amendment Act, and the Local Elections Statutes Amendment Act from 2014, because I think it’s important to know, and maybe contrary to some of the speakers that may be speaking today, that this piece of legislation is work that has been thoughtfully crafted over many, many years, multiple governments, and has really engaged local governments and various associations across this province.

I was the minister in 2014 when we introduced the Local Election Campaign Financing Act. I’ll provide a little bit of history and context to that when we did that on March 26, 2014, but I really want to acknowledge Heather Brazier, who is the public servant and incredible staff member that was the key lead on pulling this together, and all of her incredible team.

We can come forward as elected officials and present pieces of legislation. I think sometimes what often gets missed is the incredible amount of effort and work of all of our incredible public servants behind the scenes that are working so tirelessly to support us on bringing things forward.

[11:40 a.m.]

I am in support of this minor piece of amendments to the Local Election Campaign Financing Act, because it’s part of a phased-in approach that was originally talked about when this piece of legislation was originally brought forward. Again, LECFA was first introduced March 26, 2014, in this House. I was proud to have the opportunity to have brought that forward, because we did agree that transparency and accountability in local elections were critically important. I was very proud of the work that was done, and I’m proud that the work continues today. I want to thank the government for doing that.

Back in March 2014, we did table the two bills, the LECFA and LESAA. I think it’s important for me to go through a little bit of the history, because it was built on an incredible amount of work from 2010 from a joint British Columbia–UBCM government elections task force that had brought forward 31 recommendations to modernize local elections. Part of what we’re doing today, and part of what we are discussing in the minor changes that the minister’s bringing forward, really was built on a tremendous amount of work and consultation that happened back in 2010.

The 31 recommendations to modernize local elections, including the incorporation of local election campaign finance rules into one act, which simplifies it and makes it, certainly, easier…. It was also built on the fact that the legislation — in fact, what we are talking about today — was built on a white paper that was brought forward in September of 2013, with really broad consultation, as the minister has commented in her opening remarks. But I just want to make sure we’re providing credit to the tremendous amount of work that has been done for a significant amount of time on recommendations and consultations throughout a significant amount of time.

Now, I probably want to go on record, not to be a contrarian, but perhaps more of a historian. The member for Surrey-Panorama mentioned some of the changes that made it sound like they were new changes. They are part of the local election campaign act, which was originally brought forward in…. The first piece of legislation was brought forward in 2014, of course, requiring candidates to file financial disclosures, ensuring that candidate campaign disclosures are published online, ensuring that the sponsorship information is published of all election advertising, requiring third-party advertising sponsors to register and disclose their expenditures, and establishing a new compliance and enforcement role for Elections B.C.

Also, the LESAA, the companion piece to the campaign finance legislation, established how election participants will transition to the new campaign financing rules. Part of the 2014…. One of the biggest changes that happened is, of course, extending the term of office for local elected officials from three to four years — that was based on recommendations put forward by UBCM — and then moving the general election voting day from November to October, beginning in 2018.

Part of the reason why a lot of these…. Why sometimes the 2018 will be brought forward is because it was a recommendation as a phased-in approach to the legislation that was brought forward back in 2014. Lots of feedback was given at that time. One of the things that I think is critically important…. At the time, Rhona Martin was the chair of the Union of B.C. Municipalities. Of course, UBCM put a considerable amount of effort into this piece of legislation. I know that they continue to do that, so I think it’s important that they are acknowledged in this process.

I wanted to highlight the fact that the work to ensure accountability for third-party advertisers was part of the original elections campaign financing act. What wasn’t a part of the original piece of legislation, and what we are dealing with today — and that’s why I certainly support this piece of legislation forward — is that it hadn’t set forward the expenditure amounts. That’s part of the conversation that we are having today.

[11:45 a.m.]

It was felt back in 2014, when a lot of this work was being done, that a phased-in approach was the responsible thing to do to ensure that the changes were appropriately able to be established. Elections B.C. had come forward at the time, discussing the need to make sure any of the changes that were being brought forward in LECFA provided the ability for both government and Elections B.C. to be able to communicate that appropriately out to the public, and I think the foundation remains the same.

When I look back on my speaking notes to LECFA, they’re so similar to the speaking notes that were brought forward today by the Municipal Affairs Minister, so it’s good to see, certainly, some consistency there. I think it speaks to the fact that we’ve got some incredible staff that work behind the scenes to make sure, as ministers and as governments, that we’re well prepared.

Of course, at the original time, the history lesson here is that the work we did as B.C. Liberals was to ensure that transparency and accountability were being brought forward, with the idea that to keep democracy strong, we need to keep the rules governing local elections up to date. This is, of course, what we’re doing here today and debating before the House.

Consulting and having those discussions with stakeholders, looking at what we introduce in legislation and how we modernize local elections to maximize fairness, transparency and accountability is something that I’m proud is being continued with today. Sometimes it’s difficult when you move from government to opposition that important work that happens doesn’t get forgotten and continues and improves, and I think that’s a reflection of what excellent government is.

This is an extension of work that, certainly, I was proud to be a part of, but so many in local government and so many organizations were as well. I was just reviewing some of my previous notes from back when we introduced the original piece of legislation. There was important work that was done on what third-party contributors looked like and taking, certainly, a phased-in approach to implementing the task force recommendation.

UBCM, which was such a key, critical cornerstone of the original piece of legislation — and of course, here today — talked about the importance of having a phased-in approach and looking at how the legislation ensures accountability of third-party advertisers, not directed to candidates but advertising on their behalf. How do we look at that? I’m glad that there’s more clarity that has been provided today. That’s building on important work that was done early on.

New rules to make third-party advertisers accountable, by making them register with Elections B.C. and file campaign financial disclosure statements that identify contributions received and money spent on third-party advertising — that was a cornerstone that we looked at back in 2014, but more work needed to happen as it evolved. I’m glad that this piece of legislation being brought forward today looks at that. We believed back then, as we do now, that the public needs facts about the campaign that promote honesty, fairness and, ultimately, public confidence in local elections to make sure that we have requirements that are consistent with provincial rules.

I was listening to the member for Surrey-Panorama. Often, some of the challenges early on were: what’s the difference between federal, provincial and local election rules? That is something that…. This particular bill pertains to local government. I think consistency was an important cornerstone that we looked at when we originally brought forward this piece of legislation, and education was a key cornerstone.

On any change that needs to happen, we need to make sure that people have the ability to understand what the changes are and why those changes are being made. I look forward to the Minister of Municipal Affairs…. I know that she will be going out to work closely with stakeholder groups to look at how we educate out in the communities.

[11:50 a.m.]

I think it is critically important that we encourage people to get involved with local elections. You could probably tell that I’m incredibly passionate about encouraging people to get involved at their local level. I certainly can express my most sincere appreciation for all of the mentors and coaches that I had when I began my foray into politics, as many of us here in the House start in local government or school board.

I think the more that we can encourage citizens across this province to look at getting involved and engaged with the activity in our communities, the better our democracy will be. I am so proud to have the ability to go and speak to so many young people across the province — and, more specifically, now with the critic role I have.

All of us in this House want to ensure that the next generation feels both the opportunity and the challenge to step up, to be engaged with and to be a part of your local democracy. I think this is just one more step, one more tool that we’ve built on work that was done, certainly, back in 2014. But it goes back far more than that — back to the first recommendations in 2010 by the UBCM, in the recommendations that they brought forward, and then later, the white paper.

I will be supporting this piece of legislation, and I want to thank the minister for bringing it forward.

Deputy Speaker: I’d like to recognize the member for Surrey-Cloverdale. Of course, we’re close to the hour, but we might as well get a few remarks in while we can.

M. Starchuk: Before I get into my comments, I want to make comments about the member for Surrey-Panorama and one of her staff members that has left her office to come to my office. It is a great addition to have Naz Sabharwal as part of my staff.

Bill 9 is exactly what’s needed to address the campaign spending in what we call the municipal Wild West. Coming from that municipal background, I’ve experienced the spending of 2014 and 2018 and the vast differences that were there. We’ve heard some of the other members make references to 2018’s loopholes and how this is going to change that. I would much rather use the term “inconsistencies” in how things were applied, and the creativeness that was around that, to kind of skirt some of those issues. This legislation follows what the B.C. municipalities have been asking for. It creates something that is fair and transparent for everyone. It translates into governments that work better for people.

When we talk about electoral organizations, I was part of one of those for a number of years. We know exactly how that campaign spending goes, and it does not always apply to other areas inside the province of B.C. I believe there are only 13 of these, and this is what will make them accountable as to how the money comes in and how the money goes out. These civic parties will have to ensure that the money that comes towards them as donations and the manner in which it’s spent is with the most transparency and follows what’s inside the bill that’s in front of us today.

With regard to transparency, when we talk about stakeholders, the key stakeholders were all consulted. They include the people from Elections B.C., UBCM, First Nations that utilize the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act, and the B.C. School Trustees Association represents the board of education.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

What Bill 9 does is it levels the playing field. No longer is the ability there for large corporations or unions to write those cheques to make the playing field unlevel. Bill 9 will ensure that the financial checks and balances are inside there. Everything that’s inside this bill is very comprehensive.

[11:55 a.m.]

It is taking a look at all of the aspects of campaign finances. It is taking a look at how it’s spent, how it’s accounted for. The world of operating expenses now falls into all of the categories that are there. The accounting is there, and the registration is in place. Lastly, there is a greater amount of emphasis placed on a penalty. The penalties are far greater than what they were before, and they mean something. In the past, somebody could have the ability to ignore what was there and take the minor consequences.

Noting the hour, I reserve my right to continue in the next sitting and move adjournment of the debate.

M. Starchuk moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. M. Farnworth moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

Mr. Speaker: This House stands adjourned until 1:30 this afternoon.

The House adjourned at 11:56 a.m.