XPost: van.general, bc.politics, can.politics   
   From: Cons@minority#s   
      
   April 5, 2012   
      
      
   Big business gives Liberals a lift   
      
   Report shows party's donations eclipsed NDP, Tories' combined total   
      
      
   The B.C. Liberals received close to $5 million in corporate donations last   
   year, a sum that   
   eclipsed the combined total of donations received by the NDP and B.C.   
   Conservatives.   
   Elections B.C. financial reports, released Wednesday, show that the Liberals   
   collected   
   $8,935,516 in 2011, a year that saw Premier Christy Clark take over from   
   Gordon Campbell, who   
   resigned amid record-low approval ratings.   
      
   Of that number, $4,950,443 was from corporations while just over $3 million   
   was from individual   
   donations. Unions donated just under $5,000.   
      
   The NDP, meantime, recorded $4,412,786 in donations, $835,025 of which was   
   from unions.   
   Individuals donated just over $3.3 million and corporations donated about   
   $230,000.   
      
   The upstart B.C. Conservative Party, which, according to a recent poll is tied   
   with the   
   Liberals for second place in public opinion, received a total of $210,397 in   
   donations.   
      
   Of that, $11,000 was from corporations and $69,775 was from individuals.   
      
   Some of the big corporate names on the Liberal's donation list included   
   Canadian Forest   
   Products Ltd. ($68,000), Enbridge Pipelines ($31,800), natural gas giant   
   EnCana Corp.   
   ($146,200) and Goldcorp Inc. ($210,000).^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
      
   The biggest individual donation was $50,125.   
      
   The B.C. Government Employees Union was the biggest union donor to the NDP,   
   contributing   
   $124,850. Other big union donations came from the B.C. Federation of Labour   
   ($123,000) and the   
   United Steel-workers District 3 ($108,100).   
      
   Cobra Venture Corp. and Perpetuity Investments Ltd. each donated $5,000 to the   
   B.C.   
   Conservatives.   
      
   Odd bits: The B.C. Liberals spent $61,393 on website maintenance, $4,928 on   
   polling and   
   $134,391 on professional services, according to the Elections B.C. documents.   
      
   The NDP, meantime, spent $194,605 on media advertising, $520,426 on   
   newsletters and promotional   
   materials and $143,415 on research and polling.   
      
   The B.C. Conservatives spent $5,802 on newsletters and promotional materials,   
   $3,451 on media   
   advertising and $20 on polling.   
      
      
   *******************************************************   
   "We CAN look after each other better than we do today.   
   We CAN have a fiscally responsible government.   
   We CAN have a strong economy; greater equality; a clean environment.   
   We CAN be a force for peace in the world."                      - Jack Layton   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)