Wednesday, March 9, 2005

OTTAWA -- Today, Democracy Watch criticized the Ontario Liberal government proposed legislation that will only require public disclosure within 10 days of donations made directly to a political party’s headquarters or to a party leadership candidate’s campaign headquarters.  The bill, which is called the Election Statute Law Amendment Act 2005, also proposes empowering Elections Ontario to appoint a Citizens’ Jury to examine the political donations system and recommend changes.

“The Ontario Liberals have delayed action on political donations system reform for too long, and they are now doing much too little to address the serious problem of wealthy interests using money as a way of having undue influence over the government,” said Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy Watch. “Given their record of broken promises, no one should hold their breath waiting for the Ontario Liberals to take effective action to reduce the influence of money in Ontario politics.”

Even if the bill passes, the following significantly undemocratic, unethical flaws will still exist in Ontario’s political donations system, flaws that must be corrected to ensure that money cannot be used as a legal means of undue influence over Ontario’s political parties and politicians:

• secret, unlimited donations to candidates in nomination races and general elections will still be legal, and donations to riding associations will remain hidden for up to 18 months (Ontario must require all donations to be disclosed regularly, and definitely before any vote takes place);
• corporations, unions and other organizations will still be allowed to donate (Ontario should, as Manitoba and Quebec have, ban such non-voters from donating);
• the limit on total donations will still be higher than an average Ontarian can afford (the limit should be no higher than $1,000 annually); and
• penalties for breaking the donations law will still be too low.

The 50-group Money in Politics Coalition, coordinated by Democracy Watch, will continue to push the Ontario government to correct these serious flaws in Ontario’s political donation system.