Saskatoon’s spending limit for mayoral campaign is more than $200,000 higher than the limit in Regina and even candidates wonder if it’s too high.
Wyant said he thinks the next city council needs to look at the spending threshold since it limits the number of people who can run for mayor. The spending limit is based on Saskatoon’s population. The spending cap for council bids is $27,780.94.
“(The Saskatoon thresholds) really are restrictive in terms of restricting people from running who can’t necessarily raise the resources that other candidates can raise,” Wyant said in a recent interview.
That may seem rich from someone like Wyant — who is, frankly, rich, or at least comes from a family known for its wealth.
“How else are you going to engage the public in a mayor campaign?” she said of high spending. “You can’t knock on every door.”
Tarasoff spent $4,151.28 of his own money on his mayoral campaign in 2020, the lowest of six mayoral candidates and far below the $229,487.92 ceiling. But he finished fourth with a respectable 4.5 per cent of votes.
Tarasoff said he plans to fund his current campaign himself and spend only slightly more than in 2020. In an innovative, frugal approach, he has rejected distributing lawn signs in favour of asking people to go to his website and print a “Vote for Cary” sign to display in their windows.
Meanwhile, Wyant’s fundraising is being managed by his brother, automobile dealership mogul Vaughn Wyant. Gord Wyant declined to reveal how much he plans to raise or spend, but he said his brother will be contributing a “modest donation.”
Block is derided as “nothing more than Charlie 2.0,” referring to current Mayor Charlie Clark. It includes a false reference to “budget deficits,” which are forbidden at the municipal level.
Vaughn Wyant’s critique of Block fails to mention he donated $250 to her council campaign four years ago.
A fundraising letter from Block’s campaign signed by former Saskatoon NDP MLAs David Forbes and Cathy Sproule suggests Atchison and Wyant are “old, tired leaders” who would “take Saskatoon backwards.”
Atchison raised nearly $210,000 in 2016, but spent about $23,000 less than he raised on his second-place campaign. Four years after that loss, Atchison’s fundraising capacity was severely diminished as he raised and spent just over $114,000, including more than $10,000 of his own money.
Like Atchison, Mike Harder, who is also running for mayor, appears to be spending little on his campaign.
Since 2006, mayoral hopefuls who raise and spend the most money have got the most votes, which seems to be a pattern unlikely to change as limits skyrocket.
Phil Tank is the digital opinion editor at the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
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