BRITISH COLUMBIA - With an election coming this fall, new legislation proposed in Victoria in late March could mean big changes come voting time.
One of the most notable changes would be extending terms to four years from three.Coun. Barbara Steele, who was on the Union of British Columbia (UBCM) task force that recommended the changes, welcomes the idea of longer terms."You get more work done for one thing," Steele said. "Especially the big cities, but everybody, we work on five-year, 10-year, 20-year, 30-year budgets and projects. Look around Surrey. Nothing that we put on the ground today is going to be finished in three years. It's not going to be finished in four either, but it gives you more continuity."Other proposed changes involve transparency, and would require candidates running in local elections to advertise their sponsors on any signage that is put up, as well as a financial disclosures being made available online and submitted within 90 days of an election, rather than 120.While many municipalities already do post candidate financial disclosure statements online, it is not required by law.The tabled legislation also calls for a new compliance and enforcement role for Elections BC, and would move general voting day from November to October beginning in 2018.Steele is pleased Elections BC will now play a role in local elections."They oversee the elections now, which was not the case before, and that's a big plus," Steele said. "That's a great level of comfort for the community and for the elected officials."In a report from November 2013, the government of British Columbia stated it intends to introduce expense limits in time for the next local elections after November 2014. In the report, comparisons were made to Ontario where expense limits are $7,500 for mayoral candidates and $5,000 for council candidates.Coun. Linda Hepner said she'd like to see caps put on election donations, but acknowledged it's a tricky thing."What was proving to be difficult is making a policy decision, legislatively, that braced all the elements of sophistication in a large city, right down to a small community of 100 people. Finding a cap that was going to work, whether that was per capita - to me a per capita cap makes sense. And I don't know how that will ultimately play out. But that is the phase two legislative piece that they hope to bring in next time around."The next general local election will take place on Nov. 15, 2014.areid@thenownewspaper.com