It’s the wealthiest political party in B.C. you’ve never heard of.
The Advocational International Democratic Party is fielding just two candidates in the upcoming provincial election and, despite fundraising millions of dollars, is running a near-invisible campaign.
Johanna Zalcik is the party’s Shuswap riding candidate, but hasn’t shown up at any campaign events and has no signs displayed, according to a BC Liberal campaign manager.
“There’s no pamphlet anywhere, there’s no signs anywhere. She hasn’t shown up to a single debate,” said Sam Presvelos.
Zalcik told CTV News she has little hope of winning the riding, and admitted she has not had any public appearances so far.
But her party’s finances are extremely healthy thanks in part to tax advantages for political parties.
“They started with some investments and one person was very successful in the investing world and he made some good decisions, and they’ve gained a lot of money,” she said.
Dr. Andrew Hokhold has supplied many of the ideas and much of the money for the Advocational Party.
The Vernon dentist formerly helmed the BC Patriot Party, of which the AIDP is an offshoot.
Elections BC files show more than $4-million going in and out of the Patriot Party, which donated more than $2-million to the Advocational Party.
Asked about the large sum of money fueling the party with not a lot being spent on politics, Hokhold replied, “Well it depends on what you define as politics.”
“It grows in a tax-free because it’s being used for a particular purpose,” he said.
But Hokhold denied that the party’s financial activities are fraudulent, citing an investigation done by Election BC years ago.
“Nothing was innappriately done. Nothing was in any violation of any law,” he said.
The election agency is aware that people are asking questions about the Advocational Party, but there has been no suggestion of any new investigation into its activities.
The Advocational Party envisions a province that uses a lottery to elect members to a senate, effectively putting power into the hands of randomly selected citizens, according to their platform.
With a report from CTV British Columbia’s Kent Molgat
