Premier Christy Clark will use her throne speech Thursday to call for a ban on union and corporate donations to provincial election campaigns and for welfare rates to be increased by $100 per month — major policy shifts for a B.C. Liberal government that rejected both recommendations during the recent campaign.
Sam Sullivan, the Liberal MLA for Vancouver-False Creek who was recently appointed Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, confirmed the policy shifts but said he wasn’t clear whether the ban would apply to local government campaigns. In Vancouver, civic parties have relied heavily on union and corporate donations to fund multi-million dollar campaigns.
“This is something I’d like to see,” said the former Vancouver mayor, whose cabinet position also makes him minister responsible for local government. “I can’t say that will be in the throne speech, but it’s certainly something that I personally would like to see. We have to go step by step, but I think that would be a very positive direction.”
The policy shift comes after the NDP and Greens repeatedly called in the campaign for the Liberals to ban union and corporate donations. The Liberals promised to create an independent panel to study campaign finance regulations. The NDP and Greens, which have formed an alliance and are likely to form government after an upcoming confidence vote in the B.C. legislature, promised to ban union and corporate donations.
The NDP and Greens also promised to increase welfare rates, whereas Clark and her cabinet ministers repeatedly balked at the suggestion, saying jobs were the answer to reduce the number of people who rely on social assistance payments, which haven’t been raised in 10 years.
The current basic welfare rate for a single person is $610 per month.
When asked why the policy shifts were being introduced now and not during the campaign, Sullivan said the Liberals did well in the polls outside of Metro Vancouver but lost and failed to win seats in many urban ridings.
“We really didn’t connect with the urban voter,” he said. “We’ve really been reaching out to our supporters and urban voters. We’re evolving our policies. This is part of that evolution.”
Added Sullivan: “We’ve really had to do some soul searching about how we connect with urban voters. I’ve certainly given my advice on things we could do to improve and help reflect urban aspirations.”
Selina Robinson, the NDP MLA for Coquitlam-Maillardville and designated spokesperson on this file, said British Columbians are a game to Clark — “pieces on a chess board.” She noted Clark’s government has rejected the NDP’s call to ban union and corporate donations six times in the legislature.
“Each time, they’ve laughed, scoffed, mocked — I would argue, been very disrespectful of this legislation,” said Robinson, noting the Liberals refused to debate the issue in the legislature. “All of a sudden, they see the light? I didn’t used to be cynical, I guess maybe I’ve become so. I don’t trust them and I don’t believe them, and I don’t think British Columbians do, either.”
On the issue of raising welfare rates, Robinson said Clark and the B.C. Liberals could have done that in the past decade but chose not to.
“These are issues that she and her party have created, and now she’s going to try to ‘fix them,’” she said. “And I just don’t believe her, and I don’t trust her.”
During the campaign, the NDP promised to immediately raise all income assistance and disability rates by $100 per month, and allow those who go back to work to keep an additional $200 a month in earning exemptions. The Greens’ platform said a person collecting $610 in welfare will collect $915 by 2020.
Though the NDP and Greens have promised to ban union and corporate donations, and it was spelled out in each party’s platforms, Robinson couldn’t say whether that same ban will be in place for next year’s civic elections.
“It will — likely,” said Robinson, who in the previous term was the NDP’s critic for local government and introduce private members’ bills to apply the ban to civic campaigns. “We have consistently been looking at doing that.”
Longtime poverty activist Jean Swanson of the Carnegie Community Action Project has for years called for an increase to welfare rates. Swanson reacted to Clark’s move, saying: “She’ll raise the rates to save her own skin, but not to save the skin of 180,000 people on welfare. That’s what I think of it.”
While Swanson welcomes any boost to welfare rates, she said a person collecting $610 per month should receive $1,500 a month. She noted the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Vancouver is $1,900 per month, the highest price in the country.
“It’s pretty crass,” she said of the B.C. Liberals’ policy shifts.
