WATCH: NDP “Leader’s Golf Tournament” goes ahead on Bear Mountain. Mary Griffin reports.
The NDP “Leader’s Golf Tournament,? a $500-a-head fundraiser for the party, was held on Thursday at the Bear Mountain Resort.
The fundraiser included a round of golf and a dinner reception with NDP Premier John Horgan.
The cost was $2,000 for a foursome, and corporate and union donations were accepted.
It’s a popular event, with several hundred golfers taking part.
It’s the type of event the NDP, while in opposition, criticized former Liberal premier Christy Clark for, but these golfers insist that participating does not include special treatment.
“We don’t believe that we have special access. We just believe that we are supporting the party that is in power,” Joe O’Rourke, general manager for Seaspan and Victoria Shipyards, said.
“And we, as a business, need to make sure that our needs are known. That their needs are known.”
Ian McLean, the national representative of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said the event is not ?fee-for-access.?
?I mean, this is a golf tournament. It’s a fun thing,” McLean said. “You know, the John Horgan Classic was going on for eleven years prior to him being elected as premier.”
Earlier this year, the B.C. Liberal Party held a $5,000 a plate fundraiser at Mission Hill Winery, located in Kelowna, the heart of B.C.s’ wine country, with former leader Christy Clark in attendance.
During the provincial election campaign, the NDP promised to get rid of fee-for-access events like this when in government. And B.C. NDP President Craig Keating said the party intends to follow through once the legislature resumes sitting in September.
“We are going to be the first government in this province to make sure that the wild west of political campaign fundraising ends in British Columbia,” Keating said. “And that legislation is coming along.”
But that won’t happen before the party’s next fundraiser.
Single tickets to the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver on Sept. 22 for the Leader’s Levee will be $525 each.
It’s billed as the party’s biggest event of the year.
Earlier on Aug. 8, BC Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver spoke to CHEK News and said he was disappointed the NDP?s golf tournament was going ahead.
“I said to John, think you made a mistake here. And we’re going to push you on this,” Weaver said. “He knew that we were going to push him on this.”
Mary Griffin
