As Election Day approaches, Burnaby’s opposition party is questioning the impartiality of city staff when their union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, was the incumbent council’s largest financial supporter in the last election.
In 2011, CUPE donations to the Burnaby Citizens Association totalled $94,500, accounting for more than 35 per cent of the BCA’s campaign contributions. The Burnaby First Coalition recently issued a press release raising concerns over the neutrality of city staff – particularly those responsible for running the election – and how CUPE’s substantial support may sway the wages and votes of city workers.
“CUPE Local 23 negotiates directly with the city,” states the release, calling the matter a perceived conflict of interest. “Burnaby took over contract negotiations from Metro Vancouver after the 2011 election and prior to the negotiations for the most recent contract in 2012. There are now 184 city staff paid over $100,000 annually.”
But Gord Larkin, president of the BCA, denied the notion that CUPE’s donations had any influence on the last round of bargaining over the city’s collective agreement with the union.
“All kinds of people donate to political parties and they don’t necessarily control the political party,” he said. “It has nothing to do whatsoever to do with negotiations. The bargaining is done – they have a collective agreement now, I believe, that runs for another couple of years.
“I would assume they have a process where they go to their membership, it must be passed by their membership,” he added. “They’re a democratic organization and they have a right to get involved in the political arena, the same as Kinder Morgan who’s spending millions on ads about their position on the pipeline.”
As per the Election Act, donations must be disclosed within 90 days after the election.
Despite the BCA’s position, Burnaby First’s statement went on to say the union’s donations are “a serious issue for transparency and accountability” and criticized the lack of regulation for municipal election contributions.
“Local elections are the least regulated of our three levels of government with no limits on donations from groups like unions and developers that have a direct interest in the outcome.”
