BC Election 2013

Elections BC released all of the registered political parties 2009 annual financing reports today. The Conservative party failed to file on time – they have until June 30 (and a $100 fine) to file, otherwise they risk de-registration. I will summarize the financial data for the BC Liberal, NDP and Green Party. I’d appreciate attribution if you found the information in this analysis to be useful.

BC Liberals:
The BC Liberals spent about $16.6 million in 2009 (net of transfers). They raised $12.3 million from contributors, and have incurred $4.9 million in debt at the end of the year. They are receiving a rate of prime plus 2.25% which is currently 4.5%.

Individuals contributed 21% of the BC Liberal revenues, while corporations contributed 64% of the revenues.

NDP:
The NDP spent $9.4 million in 2009 (net of transfers). They raised $6.9 million from contributors, and ended the year with $2.2 million in debt. They are receiving a rate of between 3.25% to 4.5% on multiple loans.

Individuals contributed 63% of the NDP revenues, while trade unions contributed 32% of the revenues.

Green:
The Green party spent and raised about $190,000 in 2009. They incurred no debt at the end of the year.

Individuals contributed 94% of the revenues.

Summary thoughts:

The largest line-item entry is the amount of bank debt the BC Liberal party has incurred after the election. They have about a $4.9 million debt at the end of 2009. At their current level of debt, this will result in an interest bite of about $220,000/year, and this will rise later in the year when the Bank of Canada will raise rates.

It is always surprising to know the NDP manages to get a lower rate of interest on their bank debt.

The split of where revenues are coming from is surprising – most people have the impression that the NDP is funded by union donations, but they are funded 2/3rds by individual donors. The union donors are about a quarter of the revenues. The BC Liberal party, on the other hand, are 2/3rds funded by corporate donors, which corresponds to the public perception. Individual donors to the BC Liberal contribute about a fifth of their revenues.

The BC Liberal party, in general, was able to substantially fund all ridings the maximum amount of spending allowed in the election campaign – 85 ridings times $70,000 is $5.95 million. The NDP were able to sufficiently fund winnable seats, but safe BC Liberal seats were dramatically underfunded.

The Green Party raised a modest amount, but they are still not at the critical mass where they can maintain a full-time staff for party purposes. They did manage to end the year debt-free, presumably because no financial institution would want to lend them a substantial sum of money for election purposes.

Data tables:
The following are tables that outline the two-year summaries from the major parties. Please note the categories might have slight differences between 2008 and 2009, and there may be some minor transcription errors.

BC Liberals:

NDP:

Green: