Because Ontario Liberals broke their 2003 election promise, Ontario election and government up for sale to wealthy interests

Federal government, other provinces, and the territories, have similar undemocratic flaws in their laws that must be corrected

OTTAWA - Today, Democracy Watch lamented the fact that, no matter which party wins the Ontario election, wealthy interests will have been able to use too large donations of up to $31,000 to buy influence with the provincial government and during the provincial election. 

Democracy Watch criticized the Ontario Liberals for breaking their 2003 election promise to democratize Ontario’s political finance system.  The organization called on all the parties to make democratizing changes after the election, and to disclose every donation they and their riding associations and candidates have received during the election by Sunday morning so voters at least can find out who bankrolled them before they vote.  Parties in the other provinces, and the territories, should do the same, including for their municipal elections.

"By breaking their 2003 election promise to democratize Ontario’s political finance system, Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals are allowing wealthy interests to continue to have undue influence over the next provincial government through too large and secret donations and spending during elections," said Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy Watch and Chairperson of the nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition.  "It is illegal for athletes to make large donations to referees, and as in some other provinces it should be illegal for anyone to make large donations to Ontario politicians."

The Ontario Liberals’ November 18, 2004 news release that echoed the 2003 election promise could be found on the website of the so-called Ontario Democratic Renewal Secretariat (which no longer exists) and it stated:

Premier McGuinty never set up the citizen jury, and the only changes the Liberals made to the donations system was to require donations to parties (only) to be disclosed within 10 days.

The problems with Ontario’s political finance system are clear, and it would have taken little time for a citizen jury process to develop proposals to correct its many undemocratic flaws, as follows.  As noted below, other provinces, and the territories, also have flaws in their laws that must be corrected, including for their municipal elections:

• donation limits are too high and allow a total donation of $15,500 annually, doubling to $31,000 during election years (limits are $9,300 annually to parties (doubling to $18,600 during election years) and a combined total of $6,200 annually to each parties’ riding associations/candidates' campaigns (doubling to $12,400 during election years)) -- limits must be decreased to $650 to parties and $650 to associations/candidates annually, which is an amount an average voter can afford when tax deductions are taken into account) -- donation limits are too high in every jurisdiction in Canada, and don't even exist in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan and the Yukon;
• donations from corporations, unions and other non-voting organizations must be banned (only the federal, Québec and Manitoba governments have done this);
• all donations (whether used for campaigns or not) must be limited and disclosed regularly and before voting day not just by parties but also by riding associations and all types of candidates, including the identity of each donor and their employer and major organizational affiliations (to help prevent illegal funnelling of donations) -- no jurisdiction in Canada has corrected these flaws that allow for secret, unlimited donations;
• loans and volunteer labour must be limited and disclosed as donations are -- no jurisdiction in Canada has corrected these flaws;
• spending limits (especially on advertising) must be set for nomination and party leadership races, and for interest groups (third parties), and the government, parties, ridings and candidates for the full 6 months before election day (currently there are only limits for parties and campaigns during the election campaign period) -- only the federal government, British Columbia and New Brunswick have limits on third-party ad spending;
• annual public funding based on votes won during elections should be provided to parties that obtain above a specific level of support (as in Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Québec, and at the federal level (although the Conservatives have begun the undemocratic move of phasing out this funding)), with a formula to ensure this funding is shared with riding associations, and;
• the elections enforcement agency in every jurisdiction (e.g. Elections Ontario) should be required to conduct random audits of the parties, riding associations and candidates to ensure that they are following donation and spending rules (currently, all jurisdictions allow parties, associations and candidates to control their own audits, which is a recipe for corruption).
  

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