The city's mayoral candidates have chosen to stay quiet about where their campaign funds are coming from.
Neither Lyn Hall or Don Zurowski chose to participate in a request from The Citizen for mayor and city council candidates to voluntarily disclose significant campaign donations prior to general voting day on Saturday.
Candidates were asked to impart campaign contributions of $1,000 or more from third parties, which excludes expenses financed by their businesses or spouses.
Hall said he had six donations which met the criteria, but would not specify who they were from prior to the election.
Zurowski said any disclosure prior to the election would be incomplete, and so wanted to wait until the full filing was made.
All those who are participating in local elections must file financial disclosures in the new year.
As part of the new Local Elections Campaign Financing Act, passed by the provincial government in May, Elections BC is taking over the receipt of that information from local chief electoral officers.
All candidates and third-party sponsors have until Feb. 13, 2015 to file their financial statements, which Elections BC will then publish online.
Of the 23 candidates who responded to the request to publicize their donations early, only five had outside donations which met the $1,000 threshold:
Incumbent Brian Skakun noted a $1,749 donation from his union, Pulp and Paper Woodworkers of Canada, Local 9.
Terri McConnachie received a $2,000 donation from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
Jillian Merrick also got the CUPE nod, receiving $2,500 from city hall's Local 1048, $2,500 from the provincial branch and $2,000 from CUPE's national body.
Ron Gallo received a $1,000 donation from employer Craig Wood.
Ravi Saxena noted a $1,000 donation from numbered company 0890219 BC Ltd., associated with TJ Grewal.
Candidates Coralee Larsen, Gregg Kauk, Jason Luke, Alex Huber, Jeffry Cunin, Harry Ulch and Travis Shaw said they have not received any campaign donations.
In addition to Hall and Zurowski, council candidates Frank Everitt and Don Roberts did not respond.
In 2011, Everitt received a total of $24,955 in donations, the largest of which came from the union of which he serves as president United Steelworkers. He also received $2,500 each from the North Labour Law Corp., Lorne Hannon and Conifex Inc.
Hall spent a little more than $8,500 in his first run at city council in 2011, which included $2,500 from Wood Wheaton Supercentre, $1,500 from Central Builders Home Hardware and $1,250 from Industrial Forest Services.
The last time Zurowski ran for mayor in 2008, he spent $48,053. His largest contributor was Farr Fabricating with a $2,500 donation, but he received a total of $22,050 from 39 businesses and $10,420 from 41 individuals - none of whom had a donation larger than $800.
The 2011 municipal elections saw a total of $278,295 spent on campaigning, with $126,580 spent by the six mayoralty candidates and the remainder by the 18 council candidates.
Campaign expense limits will be forthcoming by the next time local governments go to the polls in 2018.
The province appointed a special committee on the issue in mid-October with the first round of deliberations expected to wrap up by Nov. 27. Recommendations on expense limits for candidates will be made by June 12, 2015.
