A spreadsheet found on a Vancouver sidewalk that appears to include information about political contributions and may have been left there by Mayor Kennedy Stewart is being investigated by Elections BC.
Stanley Woodvine, a resident of Vancouver, tweeted a picture of the document that was allegedly found 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.
Millionaire developers and the owner of the Vancouver Canucks are among the donors named on the printed spreadsheet, in addition to several sizable contributions well beyond Elections BC’s $1,250 per political party cap.
“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 said that it cannot confirm the spreadsheet because they are “actively fundraising.”
According to Elections B.C., it is actively investigating any potential rules violations involving election donations, but haven’t come to any conclusions as of yet.
“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.
“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.
Bill Tielman, one of the challengers, has asked the city’s integrity commissioner to intercede and initiate an investigation. Other challengers including Ken Sim and Bill Tielman have also expressed grave reservations about the story.
“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.
