Mayoral candidate Kirk LaPointe, seen here in July, says the Non-Partisan Association’s donor list will be out Nov. 7.DARRYL DYCK/The Globe and Mail
Vision Vancouver has missed a self-imposed deadline for releasing its list of donors, with one of the party's senior city councillors saying the civic party is struggling through the paperwork.
The stumble comes after both Vision and its rival Non-Partisan Association both promised last week to disclose their donor lists after declaring, for some time, that they would not do so.
"That's part of the challenge of being popular," Vision councillor Raymond Louie told a news conference Monday when pressed on the issue, referring to the challenge of sorting through a flood of recent donations.
Although Mayor Gregor Robertson was in the audience for Monday's briefing, Mr. Louie took all questions because he was, as chair of the city finance and services committee, armed with the numbers to attack the spending plans of the NPA.
Provincial legislation does not require the release of the names of civic campaign donors until three months after ballots are cast.
Throughout the current campaign, Vision and the NPA have variably said they wouldn't release their numbers unless other parties did and that they were just following the existing rules.
That changed on Thursday, when Vision and the NPA said they would release the figures. The NPA decision came after mayoral candidate Kirk LaPointe was pressed on the issue during an editorial-board meeting at The Globe and Mail and conceded that he wanted to see more transparency.
On Thursday, Vision promised to release its donors list on the weekend. However, the party issued a release Sunday that said the list would be released this week.
On Monday, Mr. Louie declined to offer any specific new deadline.
"I expect it to be out when it's ready," Mr. Louie said.
He said 1,000 people attended a Vision fundraising gala last week and many people are funnelling support to Vision. "There's a lot of work to be done to put it all together," he said.
The rival NPA has promised to release its donors list by Nov. 7. On Monday, the party said it was sticking to that deadline.
"What is so complicated about keeping a promise to Vancouverites to release a donor list by the promised deadline?" Mr. LaPointe said in a statement, referring to Vision Vancouver.
"Its excuses should make Vancouver citizens wary of its claims of transparency."
In the 2011 election, Vision, which won the mayoralty and a majority on council, raised $2.2-million. The NPA raised about $2.8-million.
There are no donation limits or bans on corporate or union contributions in civic elections in British Columbia.
This past March, the B.C. government declined to change those campaign-finance rules although there's support for such changes among Vancouver parties.
On Monday, a spokesperson for the left-wing Coalition of Progressive Electors said the party would be releasing its donation information by the end of the week. Sarah Beuhler announced that COPE's campaign committee had approved the release of union, corporate and individual donations over $100.
Adriane Carr, a Green Party councillor, noted that the party had already released a list of its donors. Its donations include $5,000 from the Vancouver Fire Fighters – the largest donation – and $2,500 from the Vancouver Taxi Association.
The party disclosed donations of $100 or more as well as in-kind donations and a total sum of all donations under $100.
Ian Bailey