Biggest spender in city didn't win race

By Dan Hilborn
Published March 16, 2005


Conventional wisdom states that the candidate who spends the most money will win the election, but that's not what happened in the Burnaby-Douglas riding last summer.

Bill Siksay, the new NDP member of Parliament, spent almost $15,000 less than either of his big-ticket rivals in the race, yet he still finished about 1,000 votes ahead of those competitors.

Financial disclosure statements posted on the Elections Canada website this month indicate that Liberal hopeful Bill Cunningham spent exactly $80,341.43 on his campaign, Conservative George Drazenovic spent $79,130.38 and Siksay spent $63,794.83.

"It doesn't surprise me that we raised the least," Siksay said. "It just shows that the NDP can manage a budget and be effective at the same time."

The disclosure forms also show that Siksay posted a $2,150 surplus on a budget that received a total $65,944.25 in contributions. The majority of those contributions are not itemized, however, the documents indicate that 10 people gave Siksay more than $200 apiece, and another 165 people gave donations of $200 or under.

The vast majority of Siksay's campaign money, $46,700, came via transfers from the riding association. And like the other candidates in the riding, Siksay did not receive any funding from trade unions. "None of the local campaigns took any contributions from unions," he said.

The champion fundraiser in the Burnaby-Douglas riding was undoubtedly the Liberal, Cunningham, who brought in 16 corporate donations of over $200 totalling $12,776 and seven donations of $200 or under.

Cunningham also had 10 corporations give $1,000 apiece, and they were two numbered companies plus Aqua Pak Styro Containers, Carter Pontiac Buick, Dixon Corp., Globaltech Distributors, International Trading Co., Next Environmental Inc., Rhema Industries, and Willingdon Park Hospital Ltd.

Cunningham also had the greatest amount of money donated by individuals, with 25 people pitching in more than $200 apiece, and another 32 people contributing lesser amounts. But all that fundraising was still not enough to cover his expenses, and Cunningham finished the campaign with a $112.27 shortfall.

The Conservative candidate had the greatest number of individual contributions, with 251 people giving to his campaign, including 84 people who gave more than $200 apiece.

Drazenovic was also the lone Burnaby-Douglas candidate to receive a contribution from an association - $1,000 from the Croatian Community Centre - and he had a total of nine corporate contributions, including a $1,000 donation from Bridgeman Construction.