on April 11, 2024
The City of Vancouver isn’t the only place in BC where local political parties are actively fundraising in advance of the 2026 local elections. There are stiff fundraisings races in Surrey, New Westminster and Richmond, while parties in Langley and Burnaby are well ahead of their competition.
In this analysis, we’ll only be looking at those parties that reported contributions in 2023. We’ll also be restricting our look to contribution data. Those wanting to dive deeper into the financial health of their local parties can find the 2023 Annual Returns published on Elections BC’s website.
The data show that the parties in BC’s second-largest city, Surrey, could give Vancouver a run for their money. Mayor Brenda Locke’s Surrey Connect, like Ken Sim’s ABC, is well ahead of her competition with over $300,000 in contributions in 2023. Past mayor Doug McCallum’s Safe Surrey Coalition, meanwhile, raised $130,000 and Surrey First $32,000. In addition to the mayorship, Surrey Connect has four seats on council, while Safe Surrey Coalition and Surrey First each hold two.
Outside of Vancouver and Surrey, Township of Langley Mayor’s Contract with Langley party was the most successful, raising over $135,000 in 2023. Woodward was elected in 2022 with 42% of the vote and five of the six candidates on his slate were elected to council. The other elector organization in Langley in 2022 was Rich Coleman’s Elevate Langley Voters Association. Coleman placed third for mayor and their candidates placed behind a number of independents for council. While Elevate Langley filed an annual return, they reported no revenues or expenses (besides a bank charge) and have less than $2,500 in net assets.
In Burnaby, the Burnaby Citizens Association maintains its dominance over the city’s political scene, raising $76,500. The Burnaby Greens and One Burnaby, who each elected a councillor in 2022, raised $3,400 and $790, respectively.
In 2022, Patrick Johnstone received 42% of the vote and was elected Mayor of New Westminster with his Community First elector organization. Alongside him, four of his six candidates were elected to council, while the centre-right New Westminster Progressives elected two councillors. Nevertheless, the Progressives raised over $33,000 in 2023, while Community First raised $13,000. Notably, the New West Progressives defeated Community First in a school board by-election earlier in 2024.
The stakes are lower in Richmond, where Richmond Community Coalition led the pack with $22,000 in 2023 donations. RITE Richmond raised $8,900 and ONE Richmond raised $2,400. Malcom Brodie has been an independent mayor of the city since 2001, routinely defeating his challengers by wide margins. On council, Richmond Community Coalition’s Chak Au topped the ballots in 2022 but the other two candidates on his slate fell far behind as voters opted for incumbents. RITE Richmond elected three candidates and ONE Richmond elected two. Richmond United (not to be confused with the local soccer club or the British football club) and Richmond RISE also both elected one councillor.
Only one party fundraised in Delta where Mayor George Harvie’s Achieving for Delta raised just shy of $12,000. The only party outside of Metro Vancouver to raise money for a council race was in Kelowna where 2022 council candidate Chris Williams donated $1,250 to his party, Spirit Alliance. Williams and his running-mate placed a distant 20th and 24th in the race for eight seats on Kelowna City Council.
Finally, ParentsVoice BC raised just over $7,000 in 2023. In 2022, the party ran candidates for a number of school boards across the province on a platform that largely targeted SOGI policies. Two ParentsVoice candidates were elected in Nechako Lakes and one in Chilliwack. The majority of their 2023 donations came from one individual, Don Nightingale a member of the Conservative Party of Canada’s national council, who donated $5,000. He made eight donations of $625 to separate campaigns (donors were limited to $1,324 per campaign): Vernon, Central Okanagan, Chilliwack, Surrey/White Rock, Delta, Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows, Coquitlam and Nechako Lakes School Districts. The party received on additional $50 donation to their Central Okanagan campaign and another $100 in Chilliwack. In Nechako Lakes, the party raised $2,449.