In- hock B. C. Liberal fires convincing salvo in war for corporate donations

When the New Democratic Party announced a corporate fundraising event with an eye-grabbing $ 10,000 ticket price late last year, even the B. C. Liberals sat up and took notice.

The governing party is no slouch at high- end pricing, particularly in the run- up to a provincial election.

Still the Liberals were impressed at the NDP’s creative temerity in establishing a two- tier VIP package for targeted major players in the provincial resource industries.

The full freight price of “10 large” would ensure purchasers five tickets to a 90- minute preliminary reception with party leader Adrian Dix and likely members of the cabinet of a presumed New Democratic Party government at the Fairmont Pacific Rim.

Then one of the five would be invited to stay behind for an evening dinner and the promise of a more extensive give- and- take with Dix and the members of his inner circle in charge of resource development, regulation and the economy.

Audacious or not, the New Democrats cleared $ 90,000 on the evening, confirming they were able to play the fundraising game at the highest level — a first for the party here in B. C.

The NDP raised $ 3 million from the corporate sector in the 18 months leading up to the 2013 election, 10 times what it was able to raise in an entire four- year election cycle in the past.

“Adrian Dix set some ambitious targets to put the party in a position to compete with the Liberals dollar-for-dollar in the coming campaign,” wrote campaign director Brian Topp in his recent report on what went wrong ( and right) for the NDP in Election 2013. “The B. C. NDP under the leadership of provincial secretary Jan O’Brien paid off all of its previous debt and advanced 20 years in its fundraising competence — smashing all of its previous fundraising records.” He noted how party accounts were sufficiently flush to fund a $ 1.5- million blitz of advertising, travel and publications in the final 10 days of the campaign. “Every NDP campaign in recent history has needed a halftime boost like that,” wrote Topp, quoting longtime NDP organizer Gerry Scott. “But this campaign was the first that was financially capable of doing so, a tribute to the remarkable financial and fundraising reconstruction of the party over the previous two years.”

Despite being able to match the Liberals dollar for dollar for the first time, the New Democrats fell short at the finish line. Still, the NDP’s unprecedented fundraising success, particularly in the corporate sector, didn’t go unnoticed by their rivals.

The governing party ended the campaign $ 3 million in debt, about twice the declared shortfall in the NDP’s filing with Elections B. C., and the Liberals have lost no time in setting out to raise the balance.

Moreover, one can’t help noting a sly subtext in the major event on the party’s fundraising schedule for the fall — a “resource industry fundraising dinner” targeting major industry and corporate players in the “mining, forestry and energy sectors,” set for Oct. 28 at the Fairmont Waterfront in Vancouver.

Your hosts are Norman Keevil of Teck Resources ( which gave $ 58,000 to the New Democrats and $ 220,000 to the Liberals) and Duncan Davies of Interfor ( which gave $ 112,000 to the Liberals and nothing to the New Democrats) according to Elections B. C. filings.

Keynote address by Premier Christy Clark.

Was that a $ 10,000 ticket price I spotted on the invitation? Yes. But in this case, $ 10K would get a purchaser an entire table, one of 15 in the select “premier’s circle.” The cheap seats for the same event were priced at a mere $ 400.

The posting came with a caution that “all tickets must be purchased in advance” and seating was limited. If the intention was to create a sense of urgency around ticket sales, it would appear to have worked.

For the Liberals were able to announce this week that the dinner is fully subscribed more than a month ahead of the scheduled date. Figure $ 216,000 for 540 tickets at $ 400 apiece and a further $ 150,000 for the 15 tables in the premier’s circle, for a gross of $ 366,000 and a net of maybe $ 250,000.

Not bad for a year in which the Liberals have already tapped the corporate sector for $ 5 million.

Perhaps the Liberal fundraising pitch was helped along by memories of how all those corporate wallets were opened up for the NDP earlier this year. After all, those donations are on file at Elections B. C., where anyone can see them. And mention them, discreetly of course.

Remember how the New Democrats put the touch on business leaders earlier this year, with those letters that noted their earlier contributions to the Liberals?

“It is our hope that you will adopt a balanced approach to your support in the lead- up to the election in May,” said the letter from O’Brien. “I am asking your organization to make a contribution in the range of $ 5,000 now to show your commitment to a balanced approach to government.”

At the time, the Liberals professed to be shocked, shocked at what they regarded as a crass shakedown of their friends in the business sector.

Today, playing much the same game, I think they would call it business as usual.