Thursday November 2, 2023 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
BC’s four major political parties were busy with fundraising this summer and fall.
The third quarter (Q3) financial reports on political donations were released today by Elections BC.
The majority New Democrat government party collected the most donations, followed by BC United, then BC Greens, and then the BC Conservatives.
| Filer | Total political contributions from July 1 to September 30, 2023 | Link to political contribution data |
| BC Green Party | $161,711.48 | https://bit.ly/3u4nA6k |
| BC NDP | $868,141.92 | https://bit.ly/3Mp7pa0 |
| BC United | $399,209.71 | https://bit.ly/46UaU0E |
| Conservative Party | $52,562.19 | https://bit.ly/49ht6CS |
Donations by seat count:
Currently there are 87 seats in the BC Legislative Assembly, 56 of which are held by the NDP.
| Party | Number of Members |
| BC NDP | 56 |
| BC United | 26 |
| BC Green Party | 2 |
| Conservative Party of British Columbia | 2 |
| Independent | 1 |
| Total | 87 |
Covering the ridings:
By one benchmark, the Q3 donations translate to $15,503 per seat for the BC NDP, $15,354 per seat for BC United, $80,856 per seat for the BC Greens, and $26,281 per seat for the BC Conservatives.
Of course, the two smaller parties will hope to gain more seats while the larger parties intend to hold onto their own. But all parties are expected to be running candidates in all electoral area races in the October 2024 provincial election.
For the scheduled October 19, 2024 election there will be 93 seats, reflecting a growing population and some new electoral area (riding) boundaries.
West shore focus:
For the October 2024 provincial election, the fast-growing west shore area will have three ridings instead of two:
- Langford-Highlands (Langford and Highlands)
- Juan de Fuca-Malahat (Sooke, Metchosin, Juan de Fuca, Malahat)
- Colwood-Esquimalt (Esquimalt, Colwood, View Royal, VicWest)
With the new boundary changes, the large Sooke School District (SD62) with schools in Langford, Colwood and Sooke will have three MLAs to work with, instead of two.
===== RELATED:
- Three provincial electoral areas for west shore (April 18, 2023)
- Decoupling of Langford and Sooke in proposed new BC electoral boundaries (November 22, 2022)
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends is a professional news portal at islandsocialtrends.ca. Fully online since mid-2020, Island Social Trends emerged from previous print publications in the west shore: MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), and West Shore Voice News (2014-2020).
Since 2008, journalist and editor Mary P Brooke has taken a socioeconomic lens to reporting and analyzing the news of the west shore and south Vancouver Island region, including BC and national news impacts. [See Island Social Trends Politics Archive]. As of 2023 she reports with the BC Legislative Press Gallery.
Mary P Brooke has also focused on news of School District 62 at the board level since 2014 [see Island Social Trends Education archive]; SD62 is responsible to deliver public education in Langford, Colwood, Metchosin, Highlands, Sooke and Juan de Fuca.