Tuesday, October 26, 1999

OTTAWA - Today, as Liberal House Leader Don Boudria welcomed changes to Bill C-2 (which amends federal elections law) in his testimony before a Commons committee, Democracy Watch released a list of 27 citizen groups that have signed in support of the recommendations in its June 1999 report For the Best Government Money Can't Buy: How to Make Canada's Political Finance System Democratic. The report details 17 measures to clean up political finance in Canada based upon a review of all jurisdictions in North America, and sets the standard for judging Bill C-2.

The groups that have signed on in support of Democracy Watch's proposals are from six provinces, and are as follows: Action Centre for Social Justice, Association communautaire d'emprunt de Montréal (ACEM), Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation, Centre for Social Justice, End Legislated Poverty, Enviro-Clare, Forest Protection Allies, Guideposts for a Sustainable Future, LIFE*SPIN, Low Income Families Together (LIFT), Medical Reform Group, Miningwatch Canada, National Action Committee on the Status of Women, New Economy Development Group, Ontario Public Interest Research Group-Guelph, Ontario Public Interest Research Group-Brock, Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, Quebec Public Interest Research Group-Concordia, RESULTS Canada, Saskatchewan Action Committee on the Status of Women, Sierra Club of Canada, Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group, Social Change Associates, Social Planning Council of Ottawa-Carleton, Toronto Disaster Relief Committee, Vancouver Island Public Interest Research Group, World Inter-Action Mondiale

"The draft law should be strengthened to prevent wealthy interests from using money to influence our government and to ensure public disclosure of all donations to politicians and parties." said Aaron Freeman, a Board member of Democracy Watch and author of Cashing In: Money and Influence in Canadian Politics (to be published in February by McClelland & Stewart). Democracy Watch's coalition makes the following recommendations, among others:

• Corporations, unions, and other organizations that do not vote should be prohibited from donating to political parties, candidates and riding associations, as in Quebec.
• Limits should be set on political donations at a level that is affordable for the average Canadian, and public financing provided for parties based upon support for each party.
• Constituency associations should be required to register and disclose all their donors and MPs should be required to disclose all their donors between elections.
• Donor disclosure requirements should include a total of donations made, and information to identify every donor, and donations should be disclosed quarterly, as in the U.S.
• Party leadership races, and third-party spending, should also be subject to donation limits and disclosure requirements.
• Government advertising should be restricted leading up to and during elections, and a right to complain about false political advertising should be enacted.