When a political party decides to pull out of an election, what happens to the funds already raised from donors?
This is the question being asked in B.C. now after BC United announced in August that it was suspending its campaign ahead of the upcoming election, with some donors wondering what comes next.
Kyla Lee, a Vancouver-based lawyer with Acumen Law, says it isn’t clear at this point what happens to the money.
But, she says, if BC United keeps the money and uses it to deal with some of the debts it incurred up until this point in the campaign, it could be problematic, and there is potentially an argument that could be made for bringing a lawsuit against the financial agent for the party or the party leader himself if that does end up happening.
“The Elections Act places very strict limitations on making donations and the purpose for which those donations can be put to use,” she said.
“If a donation is made for an improper purpose or used in an improper way, that could lead to a complaint to be filed under the Elections Act.”
But because the current situation is unprecedented, Lee says it isn’t specifically covered in the Act.
There may be legal pathways for donors to pursue, she says, since their legal rights to support a given candidate were potentially violated.
This is especially true if evidence is brought forward showing the party or party leader continued to solicit donations after they decided to end their campaign, Lee says.
“I think that somebody is going to bring a lawsuit and try and investigate that,” she said.
“If somebody were to bring a lawsuit, that might shed more light about when this decision was made and how much money was solicited after that decision had already been finalized.”
Karin Kirkpatrick, a former BC United MLA who is now running as an independent, says some of her donors have approached her and asked for their donations back.
“‘Can we get that money back?’ Because that’s not what that money was used for, and it wasn’t what they intended that money to be used for,” Kirkpatrick said.
She calls the situation “embarrassing,” but says her supporters have been empathetic and are still standing behind her as an independent candidate.
1130 NewsRadio has reached out to BC United for comment.