For the third disclosure period in a row, the NDP has outdistanced the B.C. Liberals in the fundraising sweepstakes.
If one data point is a clue and two are an indication, then three must be a trend.
And the trend suggests that the NDP is now the “big money” party in B.C. politics. Or at least, the comparatively bigger money party.
The parties are playing a much smaller game now that strict donation limits are in place. But within those reduced circumstances, the NDP is maintaining an edge over the Liberals.
It’s quite a shift from the historical pattern of the Liberals raking in millions of dollars in six-figure donations from corporations and affluent individuals.
Elections B.C. released the 2018 financial reports for all registered political parties on Wednesday. The NDP took in $3.3 million in political donations, compared with the Liberals’ $2.3 million.
Total NDP income for the year, including the taxpayers’ $1.9-million subsidy, $1.1 million in transfers from constituency groups and other sources, amounted to $6.6 million.
B.C. Liberals’ total income, including almost the same per-vote taxpayer subsidy (since the election results were so close), amounted to $4.4 million.
B.C. Greens took in $713,000 in donations, on top of the $831,000 taxpayer subsidy.
The tallies and the differential hint at the relative health of the parties.
The 2018 numbers, on top of the reports from 2017 and the separate disclosure from the 2017 election campaign period, suggest the NDP is sustaining a lead when it comes to getting people to back up their political convictions with hard cash.
In 2017, the last year of the big-money era with no limits on donations, the NDP raised $15.3 million, compared with the Liberals’ $12.7 million. During the 2017 election campaign period, the NDP also topped the Liberals in donations, raising $9.1 million to the Liberals’ $7.6 million.
The two main parties used to play the no-limit game at different tables. Liberals would bring in millions from corporations. New Democrats would bring in a big share of revenue from unions.
Liberal dominance in the game lasted right through 2016. That year, the Liberals raised $13.1 million in donations, to the NDP’s $6.2 million.
Because 2016 was a pre-election year, when fundraising starts to ramp up, comparing it with the 2018 tallies isn’t a straight-across comparison. But still, in just two years, the Liberal take has declined by more than 80 per cent because of the new limits. The NDP donation total has dropped by about half.
Corporations and unions are now banned from donating, and individuals are limited to $1,225 a year. The limits are crimping both parties’ budgets, but much more so for the Liberals.
The reports also provide a basic profile of the donor lists. The NDP had 15,100 individual donors last year, compared with the Liberals’ 8,700. The majority of both parties’ donors contributed under $250. The NDP maintained its edge in both the smaller donors’ tallies and the larger ones.
The B.C. Greens listed almost 3,800 individual donors.
The public subsidies to the three parties that reached the threshold to qualify for them cost taxpayers $4.8 million last year. The per-vote share will decline slightly in coming years, then is scheduled to be reviewed.
Another $2.1 million was divvied up by the parties on Jan. 1, the first of the two equal payments sent out.
But it doesn’t fill the hole left by the donation limits — particularly on the Liberal books.
Just So You Know: Eighteen other parties also filed financing reports, most of them little known. Like the Platinum Party, the Unparty, the Cascadia Party, the Excalibur Party, etc.
A historical relic is still on the books. The B.C. Social Credit Party’s financial statement lists $75,782 in “cash on hand.”
But it raised zero dollars last year, which is a new low.
Even the Communist Party of B.C. out-hustled them, raising $8,721..
