After years of humming and hawing, city council has finally decided to create rules governing campaign cash — but the new regulations are mostly optional.
The new rules, introduced by Mayor Dave Bronconnier, would give candidates the “opportunity” to sign a “voluntary declaration” stating they’ll give their surplus coin to charity if they don’t run again. (Currently, candidates can pocket their surplus.)
As well, on nomination day candidates “may” choose to disclose donations received since the previous election.
The only non-negotiable new rule is a $5,000 cap on individual donations. “It’s a start,” says Ald. Brian Pincott. “I think there needs to be more — I think we need to at some point get serious about putting spending limits in place.”
Ald. Joe Connelly voted against the changes, saying the new rules unfairly favour incumbent candidates. “There are other motivations at play,” says Connelly, who’s considering a mayoral run. “Obviously when you run for mayor, you have to jump into a bigger pool and you have to hustle bigger cheques — and this has put a dampening on that.”
A rural MLA has introduced a bill that would regulate municipal campaign financing provincewide, but its future is uncertain.
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