Administrative Monetary Penalties Posted Online

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 16, 2021

VICTORIA – Elections BC has issued three administrative monetary penalties for contraventions of the Election Act that occurred during the 2020 Provincial General Election.

Penalty issued to	Penalty amount
BC Green Party	$1,000
Jane Thornthwaite (BC Liberal candidate in North Vancouver-Seymour)	$50
Norm Facey (BC Liberal candidate in North Island)	$250

In all three cases the subjects failed to include an authorization statement in election advertisements. Section 231 of the Election Act requires election advertising to include an authorization statement that identifies the authorizing agent and provides their contact information. The penalty amounts vary based on the circumstances of each case, including the reach and cost of the advertisements in question.

All of the contraventions were unintentional, and the subjects agreed to implement procedures to prevent similar contraventions from happening again. All three subjects cooperated fully while Elections BC investigated these matters. The BC Green Party and the BC Liberal Party (on behalf on Jane Thornthwaite’s campaign) proactively disclosed the nature of the contraventions that concerned them. These mitigating factors were assessed against the nature of the contraventions when determining penalty amounts.

The Election Act establishes administrative monetary penalties for some cases of non-compliance with the Act. The Chief Electoral Officer has the authority to determine whether non-compliance has occurred and, if so, the amount of the penalty within ranges established by the Act.

 

Summary of penalty issued to the BC Green Party

On October 17, 2020 the BC Green Party ran a two page “false cover wrap” in the Times Colonist newspaper. The wrap did not include an authorization statement. Section 231 of the Election Act requires that election advertising for a party include an authorization statement that identifies the authorizing agent and provides their contact information. Section 231.02 establishes monetary penalties for contraventions of this requirement. A penalty of $1,000 was assessed primarily based on the fact that the advertising was expensive and reached a broad audience (the Times Colonist reaches a quarter of a million households every week). Mitigating factors were considered in determining the penalty amount: while lacking an authorization statement, the advertising was clearly from the BC Green Party; the BC Green Party self-reported this contravention and took steps to ensure it wasn’t repeated, and; the BC Green Party was cooperative throughout Elections BC’s investigation.

 

Summary of penalty issued to Jane Thornthwaite

The campaign for British Columbia Liberal Party candidate Jane Thornthwaite produced 16,898 campaign flyers for distribution through Canada Post that did not contain authorization statements. Section 231 of the Election Act requires that election advertising for a candidate include an authorization statement that identifies the authorizing agent and provides their contact information. Section 231.02 establishes monetary penalties for contraventions of this requirement. When the campaign team identified the omission, they were able to recover all but approximately 100 of the flyers. These 100 flyers were delivered to voters in the North Vancouver-Seymour electoral district. A penalty of $50 was assessed given that only 100 flyers were circulated and they were obviously from the Thornthwaite campaign. Mitigating factors were considered when determining the penalty amount: the BC Liberal Party self-reported this contravention and went to extraordinary efforts to try to retrieve all materials and mitigate the situation, and; the BC Liberal Party was cooperative throughout Elections BC’s investigation.

 

Summary of Penalty issued to Norm Facey

On October 8, 2020, Elections BC received a complaint that an advertisement in the Campbell River Mirror for North Island British Columbia Liberal Party candidate Norm Facey did not include an authorization statement. Elections BC reached out to the campaign team the following day to discuss the apparent omission. Unfortunately, given communication limitations between members of the Facey team, as well as the print schedule of the newspaper, a second advertisement ran without an authorization statement. Section 231 of the Election Act requires that election advertising for a candidate include an authorization statement that identifies the authorizing agent and provides their contact information. Section 231.02 establishes monetary penalties for contraventions of this requirement. A penalty of $250 was assessed given the reach and cost of the advertising. Norm Facey’s campaign admitted fault and was cooperative throughout Elections BC’s investigation.

 

Links:

• Administrative monetary penalties policy: Application of Administrative Monetary Penalties
• Administrative monetary penalties page (updated on an ongoing basis):
  https://elections.bc.ca/resources/investigations/administrative-monetary-penalties

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Contact:
Andrew Watson
Director, Communications
Elections BC
Phone: 250-387-1709
Email: Andrew.Watson@elections.bc.ca
Website: elections.bc.ca

Elections BC is the independent, non-partisan Office of the Legislature responsible for administering electoral processes in British Columbia under provincial legislation, including the Election Act, Local Elections Campaign Financing Act, Recall and Initiative Act and Referendum Act.