Elections BC is investigating a spreadsheet dropped on a Vancouver sidewalk that appears to have details of political donations, which could be linked to Mayor Kennedy Stewart and may be a violation of election laws.
Vancouver resident Stanley Woodvine tweeted an image of the document allegedly discovered outside of a No Frills on West Broadway St.
“The names absolutely jumped off the page at me because they were developers that everyone in Vancouver knows,” Woodvine told CityNews.
Donors listed on the printed spreadsheet allegedly include millionaire developers and the owner of the Vancouver Canucks besides some hefty donations well above Elections BC’s $1,250 limit per political party.
“Francesco Aquilini’s donation behind his name was, I believe, $64,000,” said Woodvine.
BC is set to hold its municipal elections on Saturday, October 15.
Stewart’s team has since stated that it cannot confirm the spreadsheet and that they are “actively fundraising.”
“Like all campaigns, Forward Together is actively fundraising. We follow all Elections B.C. rules. In August, we were the first campaign to publicly disclose our donor list and will do so again before election day,” said Forward Together manager Mark Hosak.
Elections BC has since said that while it hasn’t come to any conclusions, they are actively investigating the matter.
“We certainly haven’t come to any conclusions around any potential noncompliance with the rules under the local elections campaign financing act. But as I said, we review any complaint we receive and we’ll review this one as well,” said election official Andrew Watson.
Challengers including Ken Sim and Bill Tielman have raised serious concerns about the story with Tielman calling on the city’s integrity commissioner to intervene and launch an investigation.
“We shouldn’t have Vancouver voters going to the polls not knowing exactly what happened and whether the fundraising rules have been met in every way, shape and form,” said Tielman.
