Taming the Wild West of municipal campaign finance

Only one rule applies in Nova Scotia municipal elections when it comes to money: All donors must be disclosed within 60 days of an election.

In provincial and federal elections the rules are entirely different. Rules govern how much can be raised from each donor and how much can be raised in total. Likewise, they govern how it can be spent, and on what. Campaign finance rules also govern disclosure, as well as who and what entities can contribute.

Reporting requirements are stringent and violations carry serious penalties. In some Canadian jurisdictions, municipal elections are no exception to campaign finance rules. It is time that we tightened up the rules around how campaigns are financed at the municipal level here. It only makes sense, and it is absolutely vital in an open, democratic society.

Why hasn't it happened yet? It simply hasn't been a big issue in Nova Scotia. Outside of Halifax the money involved in municipal elections is relatively minor. That doesn't reduce the need for vigilance, but it keeps it off the radar, especially when some municipalities are fighting for survival. 

But in Halifax, as with some others, we are talking about big jurisdictions and increasingly large amounts of money. I should know since I raised more money for a single election campaign than anyone else in our municipality’s history. And I could have raised more. And you know what? No law that would have prevented me, or any candidate, from taking that money and using it for anything I wished. Clearly, this is not right.

In my own case I did at least two wise things when I ran for Mayor in 2012.  I appointed an experienced and tough official agent who controlled our finances in fine detail. And I limited donations to $5,000 when we could have collected multiple times that amount. We still raised an amount of money that likely dwarfed our needs, but we didn't know that at the outset when I challenged an incumbent who was pledging to run again.

A campaign for Mayor of Halifax involves more direct voters than any other election east of Quebec. The average provincial constituency has a total population of approximately 18,000; the average federal constituency has approximately 85,000 people. Halifax has over 413,000 people. The municipality includes all or part of seven federal ridings, and approximately 20 provincial ridings.  Each municipal district is now larger than each provincial constituency. We should be subject to reasonable campaign finance guidelines.

Some will ask, "Where is this problem we are we trying to fix?" The simple fact is in the absence of rules we cannot even see the problems. It is a basic tenent of modern governance that money in politics must be tracked and controlled. Nova Scotia’s municipal governments should not be the Wild West of campaign finance. We are better than this, and it’s time for change.

On Monday, November 24, I will be asking our Executive Committee to recommend to Regional Council that we address the issue of Campaign Financing of Municipal elections. Of course, any change will require the support of the Provincial government as it would require changes to provincial legislation. I know the government have myriad priorities and likely aren't keen to address an issue that hasn't been raised by most municipalities. But in my view, it's time to fix a system that turns a blind eye to how elections are financed.