Liberals and NDP trade jabs over corporate donations

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The leader of the BC NDP says he’s not worried about a perception of union influence in his party. That’s despite the discovery the United Steelworkers Union is paying the salaries of three NDP staffers.

The union says it hired the NDP’s deputy director and campaign director on contract last fall and allowed them to work on the party’s campaign. While legal, the practice may be perceived as giving the union more influence within the New Democrats.

Party Leader John Horgan has repeatedly said he would change the election rules and ban corporate and union donations but will continue to accept them through this election. “I believe British Columbians are fair-minded and they understand that when the deck is stacked against them, you’ve got to work extra hard to make sure you can balance that out.”

Horgan continues to slam the BC Liberal Party for so-called cash-for-access fundraisers and donations.

Meantime, the Liberal camp is fighting back. It insists the donations it has received won’t influence its focus on protecting jobs in BC’s forestry sector.

Leader Christy Clark says her party acceptance of hundreds of thousands of dollars from US lumber producers is a completely different issue than the NDP’s decision to accept cash from a big US union. “It’s not the same. Those US lumber barons are greedy and they are hurting British Columbia’s jobs.”

The BC Green Party is only one of the three major parties which turns down corporate and union contributions.

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