How grassroots is that?

By Dermod Travis

Mere hours before the New York Times went to press with its look at the B.C. Liberal party's ethical scorecard, the party chose to get its 2016 fundraising results out ahead of the storm.

One last chance at political counter-spin – and what a marvel of spin it was. 

The Liberal party reported that individual donors had outnumbered its corporate donors by a four-to-one margin in 2016, with 9,324 individuals and 1,876 corporations making donations. 

The party may want to check the auto-correct function on its computers, because it seems to have arbitrarily replaced donations with donors.

It would have been quite the year-to-year jump. Just the year before, the Liberals reported 2,084 individual and 1,124 corporate donors giving in excess of $250. The 2016 report posted to the party's website on Friday has 15,941 donations, but not from 15,941 unique donors.

There are 7,582 donations for $100 or less in the 2016 report and 8,359 donations from $100.36 to $200,000.

Party donations over $100 accounted for $11.7 million of the party's $12.15 million total. 

The party reported 15 six-figure cheques from 11 unique donors totalling $1.7 million, including Dennis – better known as Chip – Wilson, luxury car dealer MCL Motors, Arizona-based RPMG Holdings (ONNI Construction) and Teck Resources.

Their generosity wasn't limited to the 15 cheques, either. Ten of the 11 kicked in another $200,000 in smaller donations.

Three others – including the New Car Dealers Association of B.C. and the Independent Contractors & Businesses Association – gave a total of $341,550.

Effectively, 14 donors gave close to 20 per cent of the party's total haul.

The donations for $100 or less would normally pass by unnoticed, except for the big deal the party made of them just hours before that New York Times article.

In its statement last week, the party boasted that “Since Christy Clark became party leader, we’ve made a focused effort to grow our base of grassroots donors, including individuals and small businesses.” 

The 2016 report includes 7,582 donations – from $5 to $100 – totalling $449,384 (for context, Wall Financial gave $403,250 through four companies).

But what a grassroots crowd it is. 

Canadian Forest Products Ltd. cut a cheque for $84.73. Their total donations came in at $63,285.

London Drugs made a $98 contribution. The company donated $16,098 to the Liberals.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers gave $50, as part of its $11,225 total.

Mercedes-Benz Canada was in for $20 and that was it. 

Gateway Casinos and Entertainment made three donations for less than $100 towards their $84,118 contribution. 

Gibsons/Sechelt Coin Laundry gave $100, possibly in loonies and quarters.

Vancouver lawyer Larry Lien Kuan Yen gave $20 on one occasion and $10,000 on another. 

The Big 5 Canadian banks donated $47,505, B.C. credit unions ($45,085), HSBC Bank Canada ($5,050) and South Korea's Keb Hana Bank ($300).

Recipients of government funding also appear on the list, including Playhouse Child Developments Centre ($210), the Steveston Harbour Authority ($150) and the University of B.C.'s Centre for Drug Research and Development ($250).

The grassroots spin to the party's statement may have seemed the way to go in light of the New York Times article, but when donations under $100 account for less than 3.7 per cent of the party's haul and 14 donors nearly 20 per cent, you're not really left with a warm and fuzzy grassroots feeling.

– Dermod Travis is the executive director of IntegrityBC.