Unions Spend Big to Influence Elections
In Canada, spending by registered third parties hit record highs—over $8.7 million—during the 2014 Ontario election campaign, with organized labor leading the way. Spending by the 37 registered third parties showed an increase of 43% compared to the 2011 provincial election campaign.
Ontario’s largest unions fulfilled their pledge to run aggressive and expensive advertising campaigns, to counter the PC party’s disastrous election promise to cut 100,000 public sector jobs.
The Ontario Provincial Police Association, which ran election ads for the first time in its history, spent $41,570 of its $200,000 ad budget.
“Working Families”, a coalition of unions, spent $2.49-million, by far the most of any third party. “Working Families” raised $3.4-million. Donations included a $300,000 contribution from United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), $300,000 from Unifor, $350,000 from International Union of Operating Engineers, $250,000 from Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA) and $250,000 from International Brotherhood of Electric Workers (IBEW). The “Working Families” $2.49-million advertising campaign represents a 138% increase over the $1.04-million it spent on advertising during the 2011 election.
OECTA was the second biggest spender among third parties. In addition to its contributions to “Working Families”, the union spent a further $2.1-million.
Spending by the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario totaled $1.2-million, while the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation spent $386,000. The Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) was not a registered as a third party during the 2011 election, but ran an aggressive advertising campaign last year, costing $687,000.
To see the kind of sophisticated PR operation the Ontario Provincial Police Association (OPPA)2 runs, check out this video. Pass it around. It might give some people in your association some ideas. Cost to produce was around $20,000.
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