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B.C. Attorney-General David Eby, left, says his government has no plans to tighten the amount parties can spend on elections.Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press

British Columbia's Attorney-General says his government has no plans to tighten the amount parties can spend on elections because coming changes to campaign-finance rules will hamstring them from raising as much money from corporations, unions and the province's elite.

On Tuesday, Elections BC released preliminary income and expense filings from all parties that showed the incumbent Liberals spent almost twice what the rival New Democrats spent – $13.6-million to $7.9-million – in May's election. The result was a hung parliament and the NDP eventually forming government with the support of three Green MLAs.

In the 2013 election, the Liberals spent $11.7-million to the NDP's $9.4-million.

Attorney-General David Eby said this type of spending should go down once his government tables a blanket ban on corporate and union donations and sets limits on individual contributions, which it is pledging to do as quickly as possible when the legislative session resumes this fall.

"One of the things driving the spending is these big-money donations," he told The Globe and Mail late on Tuesday. "We know that people are sick of big-money elections and that's why we're bringing in the legislation."

However, he said if a party is able to raise "small amounts from a large number of people, they'd be able to spend a lot of money."

Both the NDP and Liberals raised in excess of $2-million from people donating more than $250 this year leading up to the May 9 vote, according to Elections BC.

But the New Democrats held a distinct advantage over the rival Liberals in raising money from people donating $250 or less, bringing in $1.6-million compared with $509,500.

In the leadup to the election, the ascendant Greens, who have banned corporate or union contributions, raised almost as much as the Liberals from these smaller personal donations, raking in $351,000 and another $486,000 from donations larger than $250, according to the electoral agency.

Advocates for campaign-finance reform have said B.C. should cap such gifts at an amount reasonable to an average person because other jurisdictions have shown that if individuals are able to give as much as $1,500 – the limit on federal parties – then corporations or unions can still give much larger sums through their executives and their family members.

The new data shows the Liberals spent just over $3-million on election advertising to the NDP's $2.4-million. In March, B.C.'s Auditor-General raised concerns over the Liberal government doubling the $8.5-million it had previously budgeted for taxpayer-funded publicity.

Campaign-finance reform was a major issue on the campaign trail and a repeated talking point of the Greens and the New Democrats. The province has been branded the "Wild West" of campaign finance because it does not have any limits on political donations. The BC Liberals had long refused to limit political donations despite repeated criticism of the party's fundraising practices, including cash-for-access events in which donors paid up to $10,000 for a chance to sit down with the premier.

Earlier this year, the Liberals relented somewhat and pledged to form a panel after the election that would review overhauling campaign-finance rules. Faced with imminent defeat at the hands of the NDP-Green alliance, the party reversed course last month in its final Throne Speech and pledged to ban corporate, union and third-party donations.

The New Democrats have also faced criticism since the election for holding a private $325-a-ticket fundraising event with Leader John Horgan in Vancouver. Mr. Eby has said that while the new financing rules are being crafted, the New Democrats will continue to accept money from unions and businesses so they do not cede any advantage to the Liberals.

Last year, the Liberals raised $13.1-million in donations, while the NDP raised $6.2-million. Nearly two-thirds of the money the Liberals raised – $7.7-million – came from a relatively small collection of corporate and business donors. Of the money donated to the NDP, $1.8-million was from unions.

On Tuesday, Mr. Eby said his government is also trying to apply a ban on corporate and union donations retroactively to any large contributions made after the election, so the parties are limited in how they can use this money.

The foreign affairs minister says Canada is looking to include chapters on gender and Indigenous peoples in the new North American free-trade agreement. Chrystia Freeland says a gender chapter was part of a trade deal with Chile.

The Canadian Press

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