Daphne Bramham: Voters are people, not companies

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Remember the old days and all that industry captains paternalism, father-knows-best? Well, we could have it again.

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The newly formed Business Tax Alliance (BTA) wants to remedy the ‘problems’ caused by tenants and poor citizens voting in civic elections for politicians who promise some not-so-business-friendly things like affordable housing, community centers, parks, swimming pools, tracks, schools, libraries and the consequent higher taxes.

This new alliance of business improvement associations in Vancouver, Victoria and Surrey wants businesses to vote and wants more of the tax burden to shift from businesses to residential properties. It was put together by Paul Sullivan of Ryan ULC, based in Texas, which made me wonder about Ryan ULC.

First, some history.

“From what we could determine, we are the only jurisdiction in North America, perhaps the free world, that allows this,” Minister of Municipal Affairs, Recreation and Housing Robin Blencoe told The Vancouver Sun in 1993 when he rejected the corporate vote. in civic elections.

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Until 1973, companies, including foreign-owned ones, had an unlimited number of votes. It allowed them to vote multiple times if they had multiple addresses. These rights were suspended until 1976 when the electoral entrepreneurs were reinstated with one vote per company and only if the owner of the company did not already have a vote in that municipality. All of those provincial changes brought British Columbia municipalities in line with the city of Vancouver, which had never granted corporate voting rights.

The 1993 decision was “disgusting,” said Ann Chiasson, then president of the Whistler Chamber of Commerce. She argued that companies have “a significant interest in city council decisions, from taxes to planning.”

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But former Vancouver Mayor Gordon Campbell apparently disagreed. As prime minister, he did not restore the vote.

So what is Ryan ULC? Essentially, their core business is recovering taxes for corporations through litigation, influencing governments, and modifying engineering policies to benefit businesses. Toronto-based Onex Corp. owns a 42 percent stake in Ryan ULC. Its founder is the billionaire and fundraiser of the Liberal Party of Canada, Gerry Schwartz.

When Onex paid $ 317 million for its stake in Ryan in 2018, the Texas-based company was valued at $ 1.1 billion. Two years later, Ryan had 2,872 employees in 50 countries and an estimated revenue of $ 630 million.

Since then, he’s been on something of a Canadian shopping spree.

In October, Ryan ULC acquired Guelph, Ontario-based Mentor Works, which specializes in finding and obtaining government funding and grants for businesses. In August, Ryan ULC bought Toronto-based PS Johnson, which “specializes in processing property tax appeals for corporate clients.”

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In January, he bought Vancouver real estate consultancy Burgess Cawley Sullivan. Sullivan has stayed, adding the BTA spokesperson and “technical expert” to his credits, as well as being chairman of the Vancouver Fair Tax Coalition’s technical committee.

It seems like a perfect match with Ryan ULC.

Its founder, president and CEO is G. Brint Ryan. A decade ago, Texas Monthly called him one of the most powerful people in the state, describing him as the “shadow comptroller” of the legislature because his company “absorbs about $ 1.5 billion a year from the state treasury for its clients. corporate “.

Ryan has also been described by The Washington Post as “a Republican mega-donor.”

In 2015, Ryan helped raise $ 17 million through a super PAC, a political action committee, for former Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s short bid to be the Republican presidential nominee. https://publicintegrity.org/politics/pro-rick-perry-super-pacs-give-back-millions/

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In June 2020, Ryan’s lavish fundraiser for Donald Trump made headlines. Tickets cost $ 500,000 per couple and an estimated $ 10 million was raised.

Earlier this year, Ryan ULC was allegedly linked to an investigation by the FBI’s corruption unit involving current and former members of Arizona Governor Doug Ducey. They had allegedly lobbied for a secret agreement to reimburse up to $ 100 million in taxes to companies that were all Ryan ULC customers. Among Ryan’s employees allegedly working on the file were three members of Ducey’s former senior staff, including one who is now a federal judge.

In October, Ryan responded to stories published by USA Today and The Arizona Republic, saying the company is not aware of any investigation.

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“They have not contacted us,” he said in a press release. “But Ryan would welcome one because we are confident in the outcome. The best legal experts in Arizona have defended the actions of those whom we correctly hire. “

In BC and 1993, when businesses lost the ability to vote at the municipal level, people were already concerned about low voter turnout that hovered “only” around 50 percent.

These days, that kind of participation would be a win. Even using “new strategies,” including the ability to vote anywhere, Vancouver managed to increase turnout in 2018 to 39.4 percent of 176,450 eligible voters. Still, that was better than Richmond (35.7 percent), Burnaby (33.5) and Surrey (32.6), but it lagged behind Victoria at 44.9 percent.

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It is also worth noting in 2018 that, for the first time, companies were prohibited from making campaign contributions.

In 2018, just 957 votes separated Mayor Kennedy Stewart from Ken Sim, who ran for the Non-Partisan Association on a platform that included lower taxes for businesses. The leader in votes on the council, Green Leader Adriane Carr, garnered 69,730 votes. Sarah Kirby-Yung screeched in the 10th seat with 43,581.

With less than a year to go before the next civic election, think about it.

There are about 80,000 companies registered in Vancouver. If they could vote, a group of that size highly motivated by, say, the promise of lower taxes, could turn the vote around in a New York minute.

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twitter: @bramham_daphne