NDP urges Liberals to be non-partisan in selecting civic election committee - article -Vancouver Sun

NDP urges Liberals to be non-partisan in selecting civic election committee
Darah Hansen, Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, November 28, 2009
B.C.'s New Democrats appealed to the government Friday to put aside partisan interests and include opposition members in a yet-to-be-announced committee examining gaping holes in municipal-election legislation.
Any such committee "should be squeaky clean ... Even the appearance of [possible] political motives should not be there," said Scott Fraser, NDP MLA for Port Alberni and community development critic.
Fraser's comments came after hints leaked earlier this week that the Liberals were set to appoint members of the committee. They will investigate possible changes to the Local Government Act after municipalities across the province raised concerns at the Union of B.C. Municipalities this fall about serious flaws in the legislation.

"It is a bit of the Wild West out there compared to provincial and federal elections," Community Development Minister Bill Bennett said at the time.
A Vancouver Sun article published Friday highlighted one particularly murky situation brewing in the grape-growing paradise of Summerland following last year's municipal election.
All six town councillors and Mayor Janice Perino admitted in their campaign-financing disclosure statements that they took donations from unnamed individuals, groups or corporations that exceeded the legal threshold set out under the Local Government Act.
According to the act, it's illegal to take anonymous donations of more than $50, and the penalty for doing so is disqualification from holding office and from running again until after the next general election.
It's also illegal to give anonymous donations of more than $50.
To date, no one on council has been fired. Summerland's acting Mayor Gordon Clark said that's because no one has done anything wrong.
"I try to behave in complete compliance with the spirit and the letter of the legislation," the retired lawyer said in an interview.
But others, including Kennedy Stewart, a Simon Fraser University political scientist whose specialty is civic politics, believe the lack of action has more to with the toothless nature of the act, which fails to set out clear powers of enforcement.
In a speech to municipal leaders in the fall, Premier Gordon Campbell said he would put a committee in place to look into the problems. The committee is to be headed by Union of B.C. Municipalities president Harry Nyce and Bennett, with recommendations expected by May 31.
Fraser said he was still hopeful Friday the committee would also include members of the NDP, as well as B.C.'s lone independent MLA Vicki Huntington.
dahansen@vancouversun.com
© Vancouver Sun 2009
http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=65171acd-240a-4306-8db2-03f34dc88915

Task Force on changes to municipal elections

On October 2, 2009, Premier Gordon Campbell announced a joint Task Force to make recommendations for legislative changes to improve the electoral process for local government elections across B.C.

The six-member Task Force is co-chaired by Bill Bennett, Minister of Community and Rural Development, and Harry Nyce, president of the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) and includes two other UBCM executive members and two provincial MLAs.

The Task Force is reviewing specific issues related to local government elections. Topics under review are:

Campaign finance, including contribution/spending disclosure and limits, and tax credits
Enforcement processes and outcomes
Role of the chief electoral officer (B.C.) in local government elections
Election cycle (term of office)
Corporate vote
Other agreed upon matters, (e.g. matters raised in UBCM resolutions such as eligibility of local government volunteers to be candidates)
The Task Force welcomes feedback in writing on these topics. Written comments can be submitted via the e-mail Feedback link, the Feedback Form or sent to:

E-mail
localelectionstaskforce@gov.bc.ca

Mail
Local Government Elections Task Force
c/o Ministry of Community and Rural Development
PO Box 9839 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria BC V8W 9T1

Fax: 250-387-7972

The Task Force looks forward to receiving your written comments as soon as possible, preferably by April 15, 2010.
http://www.localelectionstaskforce.gov.bc.ca/index.html