Stikine's Nathan Cullen calls on past experiences to share enthusiasm for British Columbia electoral financing reform themes

Political party funding was the topic of note on Tuesday
at the BC Legislature, with Stikine MLA Nathan Cullen
providing for an instructive discussion narrative

The NDP government has had a very active fall session so far, rolling through a range of Bills and amendments to laws towards their expansive political agenda for 2021-22

One of the pieces of legislation currently moving through the Legislature is Bill 27 which will make amendments to existing legislation related to the electoral funding allowance now in place for  provincial parties.

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Among those to speak to the topic was Stikine MLA Nathan Cullen, who addressed the topic during the Tuesday morning session of the legislature, with the MLA and former MP calling on much of his past experiences to offer some thoughts on the issue.

It's a pleasure to join with my colleagues today in talking about Bill 27, a relatively small act compared to many bills that are introduced in this place, but I would suggest that its consequences are much larger than the few pages and the few amendments that exist within this piece of legislation. 

Because, bills like this, changes like this that our government, this Legislature, is making to the way that democracy exists in British Columbia, have far-reaching effects, and I, along with many others, would argue that those effects are overwhelmingly positive. 

Now, for a place that I represent, northwestern British Columbia and Stikine, the largest and one of the more remote ridings…. Many small communities, not necessarily a lot of wealthy and well-connected people to this place, the powers of this place. 

And yet they need voices and representation that can do the job on their behalf as well as any other British Columbian, regardless of their income, their political connection, their family, etc. 

So for rural and remote British Columbians, for people who don't have a lot of money — middle income, low income, people just struggling to get by — they need to have that faith that is oftentimes shaken, if not outright broken, that when we send someone to the Legislature, when we send someone to town council, when we send someone to parliament, they're working and speaking on our behalf. 

One of the things that comes into that question, for many voters, is money — the question of who's paying for campaigns, the signs, the door-knocking and all the rest — and is there any link in the contributions that people make into corrupting the system? 

I use that word very specifically because it's such a dangerous element in our politics, the question of money, the question of equity, access, not just for the wealthy and well-connected — who, in my experience, always find a way to take care of their interests and needs — but for the vast majority of British Columbians that we hope to serve each and every day.

Towards the dangers of how money can influence the tone of politics, Mr. Cullen reviewed some of the history of fundraising in BC as well as of his observations from his time as a federal MP and what the trail of money can result in.

Many of my colleagues have touched on the basic mechanics of the bill, which are very important in terms of a logical and sequential step to making sure that big money stays out of politics. That's what our government committed to, based on some pretty what I would call telling and dangerous experiences of what it was like in British Columbia prior to the changes that we made.

 It's been cited. It wasn't just the New York Times. It was many commentators across this country and around the world. When looking at the rules, or, if I could say, lack of rules that guided political donations in British Columbia, that it was legal, under previous governments, for numbered companies, offshore donations, to arrive in this province disclosed somewhat.

It was the experience of a previous Premier who went to Calgary. In just one dinner at the Petroleum Club, a former B.C. Liberal Premier was able to raise $1 million in a night — 1 million bucks — from a neighbouring province from one sector in particular at the Petroleum Club, while we were debating many important energy issues that were going on. 

And there's a connection of people wondering: how does that work? How do you raise 1 million bucks in a neighbouring province from one particular sector? Do you have to be nice? Is that enough? Do you have to consider policies? Do you have to consider the laws that are coming? 

And that's where the trust starts to break. 

That's where people start to say: "Well the person I sent to the Legislature, maybe their voice is being overridden, and my influence as a single individual voter and my family's influence is diminished somewhat when there are just simply no limits whatsoever to those who have money being able to drop a million bucks in an evening to support one candidate or another." 

And I spent a fair amount of time in Washington, D.C., south of the border. There, of course, they've had, all the way up to the Supreme Court, cases where money has been equated with voice and rights. And it's a most unfortunate decision, but that's their jurisdiction. 

But it's informative and instructive for us within our rules and our laws that when we, as a government, banned big money out of our politics, what does it look like when big money is in politics? For anyone to stroll the halls of power in Washington and bump into who you bump into — pharmaceuticals, energy, private health insurers. The gun lobby, somewhat — not so much for money but for other things. 

But certain folks walk those halls of power on a consistent basis, and they're not just walking. 

They're talking, and they're influencing, and they're able to either make commitments and promises of extraordinary amounts of money to our counterparts south of the border but also the withholding of that money for future elections.

The key element of the amended legislation will be to make permanent, the political subsidy funding that was put in place by the Horgan government in 2017, though reducing the stipend by vote by seventy five cents for 2021 and 2022.

The theme at the time of the political funding move was to get the Wild West  approach of campaign fundraising of the past.

The review underway with Bill 27 in the legislature will make that annual funding allowance a permanent thing.

The question of the political subsidy one which also provided the Stikine MLA with opportunity to comment towards.

So the starting at $2.50 per vote is now going to be reduced down to $1.75 and then connected to inflation.  A reasonable amount,  not in my jurisdiction, anyways, you can't get a cup of coffee anymore for a buck seventy-five. I don't know. I'm looking at the Health Minister, definitely not in his riding is coffee going for a $1.75 anymore. 

But the idea of that being a reasonable amount, the exercising right…. I've actually done a fair amount of campaigning outside of my jurisdiction. 

And there are times when people will say: "I know candidate X isn't winning" — they traditionally get 5 percent or 10 percent of the vote; when we had this federally, this was in place for a small amount of time — "but I know my vote's going to mean something important to them in their ability to represent my views even though they may not represent me as a riding

I'll finish on a positive note, for both my friends on this side of the aisle and across the way. 

That we understand that there are things that ought to unify us. 

One of those things is the fairness of our election, the fairness of the vote, the free vote of citizens that we seek to represent. We do our best. That connection must be maintained and sustained. It can't be left to just the vagaries of the market. 

It has to be something in which the public conscience of good governance implores us to pass legislation like this, which can then rebuild or establish the trust that has sometimes been eroded between us and the people that we seek to represent.

I'm proud to support this legislation and look forward to even more excellent legislation from the minister.

You can review his full presentation to the Legislature from the archive page here, starting at 11:40 AM

To view the morning session use the Legislature video archive, Mr. Cullen speaks at 11:40 AM

More notes on the work of the MLA in the Legislature can be explored here.

For a wider overview of provincial themes see our political Blog D'Arcy McGee.