A sitting Kamloops councillor has managed to avoid sanctions, which had been a possibility due to improperly-filed campaign statements to Elections BC.

The electoral watch-dog confirming to Radio NL that Dale Bass did file the appropriate papers before deadline.

“Dale Bass is not facing potential disqualification at this time,” said Elections BC in a statement to Radio NL.  “She was required to file a supplementary campaign financing report which we received by the filing deadline.”

Elections BC went on to offer an explanation of why Councillor Bass was under additional scrutiny.

“Our office requested a supplementary report from Dale Bass last month,” the statement reads.  “We request supplementary reports when information in a disclosure statement has changed or when information that is required to be included in a disclosure statement is incomplete or inaccurate.”

Bass says her issues were minor, with expense reports being placed in improper columns on the declaration forms, along with other questions which — Bass says — changed in the 2022 election, compared to the previous vote.

“Then there was a last one [question from Elections BC], ‘when did I start putting my signs out?’ I couldn’t figure that one out either,” said Bass.  “But it turns out the rules are different for those people who, if you put your signs out before the writ is dropped, and after the writ is dropped. It was crazy bureaucracy.”

Bass contends the process to run for municipal office in BC should be made easier.

“It’s almost like they should give a crash-course before you even start a campaign, rather than a vague document that you’ve got to read through,” argues Bass. “I’ve been talking to some of my fellow councillors, and they’ve all said the same thing.”

There was one candidate who ran in the last election in Kamloops who has been sanctioned by Elections BC.

Francois Lambert, who finished with around 13-hundred votes, has been barred from running in the next election for failing to satisfy Election BC’s documentation requirements.